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The  Exploits 


«f  a 


Physician    Detective 


BY  GEO.  F.  BUTLER,  N.  D. 


Pbofebsor  and  Head  of  the  Department  of  Therapedtics 

AND  Professor  of  Clinical   Medicine, 

Chicago  College  of  Medicine 

AND  Surgery. 


AUTHOR  OF 

"The  Isle  of  Content" 

"Love  and  Its  Affinities",  Etc. 


CHICAGO 

CLINIC  PUBLISHING   CO. 

1410  E.  RAVENS  WOOD  PARK 

1908 


Copyright  1908 
GEORGE  F.  BUTLER 


The   Hautover  Case 


2134469 


THE  HAUTOVER  CASE 

At  8  o'clock  on  an  evening  in  late  September 
a  group  of  five  physicians  and  surgeons,  gathered 
at  the  home  of  a  colleague  for  the  purpose 
of  comparing  professional  notes,  sat  down  to 
dinner.  Though  the  conversation,  originally 
intended  to  be  strictly  confined  to  medicine, 
soon  became  diverted  by  a  chance  remark  of 
the  host  into  the  channels  of  criminology  and 
medicine  combined,  one  of  their  number,  who 
for  some  years  had  acted  as  resident  physician 
in  the  state  penitentiary,  and  whose  name  was 
famous  in  penology,  ate  in  silence  without  ap- 
parent interest  in  the  subjects  under  discussion. 
He  had  uttered  scarcely  a  word  after  entering 
the  dining-room.  This  taciturnity  on  his  part 
was  not  unusual,  for  he  was  known  by  his  col- 
leagues to  be  of  a  thinking  rather  than  garru- 
lous nature,  given  to  few  remarks  even  on  festive 
occasions.  However,  the  host,  Dr.  Roe,  in 
order  to  draw  him  into  the  conversation,  finally 
turned  to  him  and  said: 

"Did  you  hear  that,  Furnivall?  Gerrish 
says  all  criminals  are  insane." 

Dr.  Furnivall  raised  his  head  slowly  and 
looked  across  the  table  at  Dr.  Gerrish. 

"When  did  you  find  that  out,"  he  asked. 

"What?"  came  in  a  chorus  from  all  sides. 
And  Dr.  Roe  continued:  "You  don't  mean  to 
say  you  subscribe  to  that?" 


6        EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

Furnivall  raised  his  eyebrows  and  waved 
his  hand  in  mock  deprecation.  In  appearance 
he  was  an  ordinary  man,  rather  good  looking, 
of  middle  age.  He  wore  a  beard,  which  was 
streaked  with  gray,  and  the  only  thing  about 
him  that  seemed  noticeable  was  his  eyes. 
These  in  repose  were  ordinary  enough,  too, 
at  first  glance.  But  a  closer  acquaintance  with 
them  disclosed  a  singular  quality,  which  one 
would  begin  to  describe  as  color  and  end  by 
declaring  to  be  a  fascination  of  depth.  Looking 
steadily  into  them  was  like  standing  on  a  preci- 
pice and  gazing  over  till  the  impulse  comes  to 
plunge  down.  Blue,  of  a  very  dark  limpid  tone, 
one  would  say  they  were  on  a  casual  view,  but 
a  blue  that  flickered  and  waved  under  observa- 
tion between  blue  and  dark  gray,  suddenly 
flaming  to  a  fixed  and  powerful  black,  which 
seemed  to  bore  into  one's  very  soul,  and  yet  at 
the  same  time  resemble  a  bottomless  well  into 
which  it  would  be  the  most  pleasing  and  nat- 
ural thing  in  the  world  for  one  to  jump  and  care- 
lessly sink.  Despite  the  fact  that  they  lacked 
any  suggestion  of  wildness,  and  that  the  whites 
were  no  more  than  normally  in  evidence,  a  true 
psychologist  would  recognize  these  singular  eyes 
as  most  peculiarly  adapted  to  the  use  of  hypno- 
tism. They  had,  however,  never  been  put  to 
these  uses,  as  far  as  the  doctor's  friends  were 
aware. 

With  the  lifting  of  his  brows  and  the  waving 
of  his  hand.  Dr.  Furnivall  said: 

"Gentlemen,  the  question  is  one  largely  of 
terminology.    What  is  insanity?    And  I  sup- 


THE  HAUTOVER  CASE  f^ 

pcse  Gcrrish  means  that  every  criminal  is  in- 
sane, for  the  moment,  at  least,  or  he  would 
never  commit  the  crime.  Probably  we  would 
say  that  insanity  is  a  state  of  mind  which  impels 
a  person  to  do  what  no  sane  person  would  do; 
but  that  doesn't  seem  to  help  us  much.  It 
resolves  itself,  on  one  side,  into  a  matter 
of  observance  or  nonobservance  of  custom. 
"He  who  does  a  little  different  from  the 
majority  is  called  a  crank,  or  eccentric;  if  he 
acts  greatly  different  he  is  foolish,  or  demented, 
or  odd,  or  crazed,  or  insane,  and  so  forth.  Now 
the  ordinary  man  does  not,  for  example,  default 
and  run  away  with  the  funds  of  a  bank,  even 
when  he  has  a  chance  to  do  so.  He  who  does 
so  is  therefore  not  ordinary,  Maybe  he  is  only 
a  fool,  without  sense  enough  to  know  how  small 
are  his  chances  for  escape.  Maybe  he  is  insane. 
But  call  him  what  you  will,  his  is  not  the  normal 
mind. " 

At  this  another  chorus  went  up: 

"But  circumstances!  How  are  you  going  to 
leave  them  out  ?  Wouldn't  circumstances  force, 
sometimes,  even  a  normal  person " 

Furnivall  again  waved  his  hand  as  if  the 
question  were  trivial. 

"A  man's  circumstances  are  the  man  him- 
self; are  part  of  him.  Circumstances  do  not 
force  him;  he  forces  them.  He  makes  them. 
An  absolutely  honest  man  could  not  be  made 
to  steal,  even  by  the  thumb  screws  of  the  in- 
quisition, any  more  than  he  could,  on  the  phy- 
sical side,  be  made  to  lift  a  ton  with  his  hands. 
Temptation,  like  muscular  strength,  does  not  lie 


8       EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

without;  it  lies  within.  What  a  man  is  is  what 
puts  him  in  his  circumstances.  I  will  even 
venture  to  assert  that  a  thoroughly  wise  person 
could,  if  it  were  possible  for  him  to  know  all 
the  circumstances  surrounding  any  man,  work 
back  to  the  discovery  of  that  man's  very  mind 
and  soul,  and  from  that  basis  work  forward  and 
predict  every  thought  and  act  of  his  future 
life." 

At  this  the  table  burst  into  a  roar  of  de- 
risive, good  humored  laughter,  and  Gerrish 
said: 

"You  ought  to  have  been  a  detective,  old 
man.  As  nothing  but  a  physician  and  penolo- 
gist with  a  few  letters  after  his  name,  you  waste 
and  most  recklessly  squander  a  talent  that  should 
be  put  to  some  real  use  in  the  world." 

"Oh,"  answered  Furnivall,  in  the  midst  of 
the  laughter  over  this  brilliant  sarcasm,  "you 
forget  that  I  am  not  a  wise  man.  It  is  only  the 
wise  who  could  work  this  miracle.  And,  further, 
was  there  ever  a  man  whose  circumstances  could 
be  all  known,  however  simple  they  might  seem, 
by  any  other  man?  I  think  not.  Still,  there 
are  undoubtedly  many  cases  in  which  one  could 
learn  a  sufficient  number  of  facts  to  indicate 
with  certainty " 

At  this  instant  the  door  was  thrown  violently 
open  and  a  man  came  whirling  in,  locked  in  a 
fierce  mutual  embrace  with  the  butler. 

"Help,  help,  sir — he's  crazy!  He's  choking 
me!"  gasped  the  servant. 

"Let  me  in,  then!  Curse  you,  I  tell  you  it's 
life  or  death  with  me!" 


THE  HAUTOVER  CASE  p 

With  a  last  spasmodic  heave  he  threw  the 
butler  against  the  wall  and  rushed  up  to  Dr. 
Fumivall. 

"Jack!"  exclaimed  the  doctor.  "What  the 
dev " 

"For  God's  sake,  hide  me,  doctor,  hide  me!" 
cried  the  intruder,  who  was  a  sallow  youth  of 
22  or  23.  "They're  after  me.  Tads  is  dead 
— killed — murdered — God!  And  they  say  I  did 
it.     Hide  me  somewhere!" 

He  bounded  around  the  room  frantically  as 
if  searching  with  blind  eyes  for  a  way  of  escape 
or  concealment. 

"Sit  down,"  commanded  the  doctor  calmly. 
"You  act  as  if  something  were  the  matter. 
There's  nothing  in  the  world  important  enough 
to  make  a  sane  man  raise  such  a  row." 

At  the  word  "sane"  the  doctors,  all  with 
the  same  thought,  looked  at  each  other  and  the 
stranger.  The  coincidence  of  this  affair  with 
their  late  subject  of  discussion  struck  them 
speechless.  Moreover,  the  young  man  was,  to 
their  experienced  eyes  far  from  sane  at  that 
moment.  That  such  a  person  should  develop  a 
homicidal  tendency  was  within  the  possibilities. 
There  was  commiseration  in  their  hearts  for 
their  colleague,  for  if  he  were  interested  in  this 
youth  here  was  an  opportunity  to  apply  his 
theories,  and  these,  as  he  had  himself  hinted 
them,  pointed  inevitably  to  the  guilt  of  his  friend. 
What  would  he  do? 

The  stranger  threw  himself  upon  the  lounge 
and  buried  his  face  in  his  hands  at  the  doctor's 
words. 


lo      EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

"Do  you  want  me  to  give  myself  up?"  he 
cried  hysterically. 

"Dr.  Roe,"  said  Furnivall,  "and  my  friends, 
this  is  Mr.  John  Harwich.  Jack,  pull  yourself 
together  and  sit  up.  Don't  act  so  childishly. 
You're  not  going  to  be  hurt.  Come,  gentlemen, 
let's  finish  our  dinner.  In  the  meantime  our 
young  friend  will  tell  us  his  story.  Roe,  please 
order  the  servants  to  admit  anybody  who  calls. 
Now,  Jack." 

The  youth  sat  erect  with  a  jerk.  His  face 
was  haggard,  his  eyelids  quivered,  his  hands 
twitched,  the  thumbs  inside  his  fingers,  and  his 
whole  body  trembled  violently.  When  he  spoke 
his  voice,  though  not  loud,  gave  the  effect  of 
screaming. 

"Tads  was  found  dead  on  his  bed  this  after- 
noon; that's  all,"  he  ejaculated.  "And,  oh — 
horrible! — because  I  am  the  next  heir,  they  say 
I  did  it." 

He  started  up,  his  eyes  rolling  in  his  head, 
and  then  sank  back  again  on  the  couch,  lolling 
exhausted  against  the  wall. 

"Were  you  in  the  vicinity  at  the  time  he 
was  found?"  asked  the  doctor.  His  eyes  were 
veiled  in  a  downward  look  at  the  tablecloth, 
his  fingers  crumbling  the  bread  at  his  plate. 
The  observant  doctors  waited  breathlessly  for 
the  answer. 

"That  is  the  fate  of  it,"  he  burst  forth. 
"You  know  I  hadn't  been  there  for  months,  but 
this  morning — think  of  it!  This  day  of  all 
others — I  took  a  spin  out  there  in  the  motor, 
and — and " 


THE  HAUTOVER  CASE  it 

He  groaned  and  threw  out  his  hands  despair- . 
ingly. 

The  doctor,  his  fingers  still  busy  with  the 
crumbs,  sat  a  moment  in  silence,  while  the  com- 
pany watched  him,  tense,  with  an  emotion  in 
which  sympathy  bore  a  large  part.  His  face, 
however,  never  changed  under  their  gaze  from 
an  expression  indicative  of  calm  consideration 
of  the  facts. 

"Were  you  there  long?  Had  you  any  op- 
portunity to  do  it?" 

"Great  heavens — you  don't,  you  can't — for 
God's  sake  say  you  don't  believe " 

"Jack,"  interrupted  Furnivall,  looking  him 
steadily  in  the  eye  for  the  first  time,  "sit  up 
straight  and  tell  your  story  from  the  beginning. " 

"I  won't,"  he  returned  doggedly,  "if  you 
are  going  to  think  I  had  anything  to  do  with  it. 
I  thought  that  you,  above  everybody,  would 
have  faith  in  me.  I  know  it  looks  bad  for  me. 
I  didn't  like  Tads;  everybody  knows  that,  I've 
been  there  all  day,  but  I  scarcely  saw  him.  I 
was  alone  a  good  deal,  too,  and  so  was  he, 
they  say.  But  I  didn't  touch  him.  I  didn't 
say  three  words  to  him.  He  was  found 
on  his  bed  at  6  o'clock,  stabbed  in  the  heart, 
naked,  and  all  covered  with  oil.  I  believe  who- 
ever did  it  meant  to  burn  him  and  the  house  too. 
They  say  a  tramp  was  around  there  in  the  after- 
noon and  got  something  to  eat  from  the  cook. 
Why  don't  they  lay  it  to  him?  I  wouldn't  do 
such  a  thing  as  that;  it  isn't  in  me." 

There  was  a  remarkable  change  in  the  nar- 
rator's manner  as  he  went  on,  the  doctor's  eyes 


xa     EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

holding  him.  Between  the  stubborn  tone  in 
which  he  began  and  the  docile  conclusion  there 
was  all  the  diflference  that  lies  between  an  ugly 
and  an  amiable  child. 

The  skilled  group,  watching  intently,  re- 
mained silent,  but  they  sought  each  other  with 
their  eyes.  They  had  recognized  an  instance 
of  true  hypnotism,  with  no  hocus-pocus  about 
it;  indeed,  with  no  chance  for  anything  of  the 
kind,  which  is  a  rare  thing.  And  they  were 
interested  to  the  point  of  enthusiasm.  Not  a 
man  of  them  now  believed  the  youth  guilty,  for 
had  he  been  he  would  have  told  it  as  uncon- 
cernedly under  the  influence  of  that  compelling 
gaze  as  he  had  just  asserted  his  innocence.  A 
less  self- controlled  company  would  have  shouted 
applause  at  this  unostentatious  yet  wonderful 
display  of  pure  science. 

"Is  your  motor  outside,  Jack?"  asked  the 
doctor,  pushing  his  chair  back  from  the 
table. 

"Yes;  at  the  door.  I  came  as  fast  as  I  could 
to  your  house  first,  and  they  told  me  you  were 
here. "  He  suddenly  stopped  and  looked  around 
"Where's  that  butler?  I'm  sorry.  I  should 
have  spoken  to  him,  but  I  was  excited  and  ran 
by  him.     He  must  have  thought " 

The  doctor,  who  had  been  scribbling  a  pre- 
scription, interrupted  by  handing  it  to  him 
saying : 

"Take  this  to  a  drug  store,  get  it  filled,  and 
dose  yourself.  Go  home.  Walk.  I  shall  want 
your  motor  for  the  remainder  of  the  night.  Go 
now,  for  I  must  be  off  in  a  hurry." 


THE  HAUTOVER  CASE  13 

He  thrust  the  young  man  from  the  room  and 
turned  to  the  company. 

"He  isn't  guilty!"  they  cried,  as  with  one 
voice. 

"I  don't  know.  You  saw  his  symptoms  and 
know  what  he  would  be  capable  of  under  suffi- 
cient stimulus.  I  am  going  down  to  Hautover's 
to  find  out." 

"Hautover!"  they  exclaimed.  He  was  the 
richest  man  in  the  city. 

"Yes.  The  dead  boy  was  his  only  child, 
and  Jack  is  his  only  nephew — his  sister's  son. 
His  father  was  my  dearest  friend  and  I  was 
the  boy's  guardian  till  his  majority." 

"But,"  objected  Dr.  Gerrish,  "the  hypno- 
tism, the  suggestion — wouldn't  that  have  brought 
out  his  guilt  if  he  were  guilty?  That  young 
fellow  spoke  the  truth  if  ever  a  man  did.  His 
whole  manner  showed  that  he  couldn't  lie.  He 
was  a  perfect  automaton." 

Furnivall  smiled  and  motioned  for  his  hat 
and  coat. 

"An  epileptic,  you  know,  forgets,"  he  said. 
"If  my  theories  are  correct  it  would  be  per- 
fectly possible  for  Jack,  who  ordinarily  has  a 
good  memory,  to  commit  a  crime  in  a  flurry  of 
hysteria  and  forget  all  about  it  two  hours  after- 
ward, so  that  he  would  be  unable  to  tell  of  it 
if  he  would.  However,"  he  continued,  "I'm 
going  to  look  into  the  case  for  his  sake.  He's 
a  good  fellow,  and  shan't  suffer  if  I  can  help  it. 
Should  you  like  to  go  along,  Gerrish?" 

Dr.  Gerrish  eagerly  signified  his  assent. 
They  entered  the  automobile  together,  and  in 


14      EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

half  an  hour  of  rapid  driving,  during  which 
time  scarcely  a  word  passed  between  them,  they 
arrived  at  the  country  house  of  Jonas  Haut- 
over. 

Dr.  Furnivall  was  well  known  by  this  gentle- 
man, and  when  he  stated  his  errand  to  him  he 
willingly  rehearsed  the  facts  of  the  tragedy, 
which  were  substantially  as  Harwich  had  stated 
them.  He  added,  however,  that  it  was  the 
police  who  accused  his  nephew. 

"For  ourselves,"  he  concluded,  "we  don't 
know  what  to  think.  It  doesn't  seem  possible 
that  Jack  could  do  such  a  thing.  And  we  are 
all  too  deeply  distracted  to  reason  about  the 
terrible  affair." 

"May  I  see  the  body?  " 

The  bereaved  father  led  the  way  to  a  chamber 
at  the  door  of  which  a  woman  watcher  sat, 
motioned  them  to  go  in,  and  left  them  alone 
with  the  dead. 

The  body  was  that  of  a  boy  of  five  years, 
fair  and  well  formed,  lying  on  a  bed  with  a  sheet 
over  it.  They  immediately  saw  that  in  addi- 
tion to  the  stab  wound  in  the  heart  there  was 
an  abrasion  of  the  skin  of  the  forehead,  and 
this  Dr.  Furnivall  examined  curiously.  He 
beckoned  to  the  woman  at  the  door. 

"Were  you  his  nurse?"  he  asked. 

"Yes,  sir." 

"When  did  you  last  see  him  alive — what 
time?" 

The  woman  looked  frightened.  She  evi- 
dently was  one  of  more  than  the  usual  intelli- 
gence, but  the  situation  was  too  large  and  dread- 


THE  HAUTOVER  CASE  15 

ful  for  her.  She  began  to  weep,  but  managed 
to  stammer. 

"I  couldn't  say  just  exactly,  sir,  but  I  think 
it  was  around  5  o'clock." 

"Where  was  he  then?" 

"He  was  running  down  the  back  stairs,  sir, 
laughing,  for  I  was  after  him  to  wash  him  up 
for  dinner.  And  he  went  out  the  door  into  the 
grounds,  at  the  back  of  the  house,  and  nobody 
saw  him  afterward." 

"Then  you  were  the  last  person  to  see  him 
alive?" 

"Yes,  sir,  I  suppose  so,  sir." 

"  But,  as  I  understand  it,  he  was  struck  down 
in  his  room.  He  must  have  come  back  again. 
How  could  he  do  that  without  being  seen — 
with  the  house  full  of  people,  besides  the  ser- 
vants?" 

"I  don't  know,  oh,  I  don't  know,  sir,"  she 
sobbed,  wringing  her  hands.  "How  could  the 
murderer  himself  get  in  and  nobody  see  him?" 

Dr.  Furnivall  turned  again  to  the  body. 

"Notice  the  shape  of  that  mark  on  the  fore- 
head, Gerrish,"  he  whispered,  "and  remember 
it.  They  poured  oil  over  him  and  were  going 
to  bum  him,  were  they?"  he  continued  in  so 
strange  a  tone  that  his  colleague  threw  him  a 
quick  glance. 

Never  had  he  seen  the  calm  and  assured 
Dr.  Furnivall  show  such  vivacity.  The  blue 
of  his  eyes  had  become  gray,  his  face  was  alight 
with  animation,  and  his  movements,  ordinarily 
slow,  restrained,  almost  apathetic,  were  now 
lightning  like  in  their  celerity.    As  Dr.  Gerrish 


i6      EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

gazed  a  strange  thought  came  to  him,  and  the 
next  instant  he  was  dumfounded  to  hear  his 
companion  express  that  very  thought  in  words. 

"Do  you  know,  Gerrish,"  he  said,  speaking 
so  fast  that  his  hearer  could  hardly  realize  the 
utterance  as  that  of  the  deliberate  man  he  had 
known  for  so  many  years,  "when  you  said  at 
dinner  that  I  should  be  a  detective,  I  believe 
you  hit  it.  It  was  what  I  was  thinking  about 
that  very  moment.  You  were  joking  then,  but 
I'm  not  now.  Why,  I  never  felt  such  interest 
in  anything,  so  much  life  fluid  sparkling  and 
boiling  in  me,  in  my  life  as  I  do  this  instant. 
I'm  a  new  man.  I  feel  the  pure,  unmixed  power 
of  the  cosmos  itself  moving  me  about  as  a  cham- 
pion moves  chessmen  on  a  board.  If  that  doesn't 
mean  to  a  man  that  he  has  found  his  vocation, 
what  does  ?  It's  what  is  called  genius.  I  know 
now  that  I've  got  it,  along  this  line,  at  any  rate, 
and  I'm  devilish  sure  I  never  had  it  in  medicine, 
as  well  as  I  succeeded.  That  was  all  work, 
hard,  hard  work,  and  no  play.  But  this!  Why, 
it's  joy,  it's  exhilaration,  intoxication!    Come!" 

He  hurried  from  the  room  and  presently 
stood  with  his  friend  outside  gazing  eagerly  up 
at  the  boy's  window. 

"Um'm!"  he  muttered,  darting  here  and 
there,  examining  the  wall,  the  ground,  and 
the  near  by  summer  house.  "One  story — no 
vines,  no  ladder,  summer  house  too  far  off, 
and  too  low;  went  in  that  window — but  how, 
how?— ah!" 

The  jerky  muttering  suddenly  ceased,  and 
the  speaker  stood  with  mouth  open  in  amaze. 


THE  HAUTOVER  CASE  tf 

staring  at  his  companion.  The  grounds  were 
well  lighted  by  electridty,  and  though  there 
were  shadows  dense  and  large  scattered  all 
around,  the  two  doctors  could  see  each  other 
but  little  less  plainly  than  they  could  by  day- 
light itself. 

"What  is  it?"  Dr.  Gerrish  was  startled 
at  Furnivall's  look. 

For  answer  he  took  him  by  the  wrist,  and 
bringing  his  hand  down  to  the  grass  directly 
under  the  window,  rubbed  it  back  and  forth. 
Then  he  asked: 

"What  have  you  on  your  hand?" 

"Sweet  oil,"  answered  Dr.  Gerrish  promptly. 

"Well?"  He  eyed  him  expectantly.  It  was 
fully  ten  seconds  before  Dr.  Gerrish  grasped 
the  meaning  of  the  interrogation.  When  he 
did  his  own  face  reflected  the  astonishment 
of  Fumivall's. 

"Jove!"  he  exclaimed,  and  began  hurriedly 
examining  the  ground.  "Yes,"  he  continued 
excitedly,  "the  grass  is  broken  down  here,  and 
there's  oil  all  around.    They  must  have  spilt 


Fumivall  regarded  him  disgustedly. 

"He  was  laid  here,  after  the  oil  was  poured 
over  him,"  he  corrected. 

"Ah!    And  therefore  you  mean—-" 

"Certainly.  In  short,  the  boy  was  killed 
and  covered  with  oil,  and  then  brought  into  his 
room  through  that  window.  The  crime  was 
not  committed  in  the  house." 

"It's  the  strangest  thing  I  ever  heard  of," 
said  Dr.  Gerrish,  in  a  low  tone.    "I  don't  ua- 


j8      exploits  of  a  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

derstand  it  in  the  least.  Such  a  little  boy,  and 
— it's  horrible!  What  did  they  cover  him  with 
oil  for?    And  why  was  he  laid  down  here?" 

"Because  those  things  were  logical  results 
of  the  murderer's  bent  of  mind." 

"Yes,  but  how  much  does  that  explain?" 

"Everything — to  one  who  knows  the  mur- 
derer's motive.  Now,"  continued  Fumivall, 
speaking  with  lightning  speed,  "I  must  see 
everybody  in  that  house.  I  know  the  crime, 
I  know  the  motive,  and  the  only  thing  necessary 
now  is  to  find  the  person  who  could  have  that 
motive  suflBciently  strong  to  result  in  the  crime. 
"It  was  somebody  who  passes  freely  about 
the  house  and  grounds,  for  he  must  have  been 
seen  going  in  and  out,  and  his  presence  was 
taken  for  granted.  That  disposes  of  the  tramp 
theory.  It  was  either  a  guest  or  a  servant. 
There  was  only  one  concerned,  for  the  body 
was  laid  here  while  he  went  to  the  child's  room 
and  lowered  a  rope  from  the  window.  It  was 
also  a  woman,  and  that  lets  Jack  out,  for  the 
part  of  the  house  in  which  the  room  is  located 
is  given  over  to  the  women,  and  a  man  would 
not  only  attract  notice,  but  cause  consternation 
there." 

Dr.  Fumivall  paused,  and  gazing  straight 
into  the  eyes  of  his  friend,  added,  with  an 
abrupt  change  of  manner  to  slow  solemnity: 

"Has  it  occurred  to  you  why  the  body  was 
naked?" 

Dr.  Gerrish  shuddered  and  shook  his  head, 
making  an  awed,  deprecating  motion  with  his 
hands. 


THE  HAUTOVER  CASE  19 

"I  give  it  all  up,"  he  said.  "The  whole 
thing  from  beginning  to  end  is  beyond  me.  I 
thought  at  first  that  I  should  be  interested,  but 
I  fear  it's  too  grewsomc  for  my  stomach.  I 
never  dreamed  of  anything  like  this,  and  shall 
attend  strictly  to  medicine  hereafter.  To  my 
mind  work  of  this  sort  is  assigned  by  nature  to 
the  police." 

"The  police!  Yes,  but  there  are  moments 
for  every  man  when  he  himself  is  a  policeman. 
Where  would  Jack  be  if  left  to  the  police? 
Every  fact  in  this  case  points  to  him  as  the  guilty 
one — I  mean  every  fact  as  far  as  the  police  can 
see  into  it.  Do  you  realize  how  many  different 
branches  of  science  I  have  used  already  in  this 
search,  branches  which  the  police  know  only 
by  name,  and  some  of  them  not  even  that  much  ? 
Ten!  Telepathy,  botany,  criminology,  medi- 
cine, surgery,  history,  religion,  mathematics, 
psychiatry,  and  logic.  You  do  not  see  all  these 
in  it  now,  but  you  will  when  the  thing  is  over. 
And  every  one  of  them  is  a  necessary  constit- 
uent of  the  solution.  Without  them  the  truth 
of  this  unique  crime  would  look  like  falsehood, 
and  infallibly  the  wrong  person  would  be  made 
to  suffer." 

"I  have  often  thought  a  little  education  would 
do  no  harm  to  the  police,"  said  Dr.  Gerrish 
somewhat  dryly. 

"It  is  not  the  job,  but  the  man,  that  counts," 
returned  Furni vail,  quickly.  "And  we're  all  of 
us  children  of  nature  looking  for  truth,  each 
according  to  his  ability.  Now,  we  haven't  a 
second  to  lose.    I  wish  you  would — but  wait." 


ao      EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

He  slipped  out  of  his  light  overcoat  with  a 
quick  movement,  rolled  it  into  a  bundle,  and 
placed  it  carefully  beneath  the  window. 

"Now,"  he  continued,  hurriedly,  "you  move 
to  the  left  and  I'll  take  the  right.  I  wish  to 
find  how  far  away,  in  the  present  light,  that 
bundle  can  be  seen.  We'll  make  a  circle  and 
meet  half  way." 

The  result  was  easily  found  to  be  that  out- 
side of  a  small  area  the  object  could  not  be 
discerned  at  all  owing  to  the  shrubbery  and  the 
summer-house,  except  in  one  direction.  This 
was  along  a  walk  between  a  row  of  maples, 
down  which  it  was  visible  for  some  distance. 

The  doctor  uttered  an  exclamation  of  satis- 
faction. 

"The  body,"  he  said,  "covered  with  a  cloth 
saturated  with  oil,  was  laid  here  at  about  6 
o'clock.  It  was  not  dark  enough  at  that  hour 
for  the  lights  to  be  turned  on  in  the  park,  yet 
it  was  not  full  daylight,  and  the  guests  and 
servants  were  all  busy  preparing  for  dinner. 
It  could  have  been  done  at  no  other  time. 
Still  the  criminal  took  terrible  chances  for 
detection,  with  so  many  persons  likely  to  be 
around.  She  is  either  a  fool  or  a  dare-devil. 
We  must  take  that  into  account  in  our  search 
for  her.  The  servants  we  can  examine  at  any 
time,  but  the  guests  will  be  leaving  now — Ger- 
rish,  you  must  think  up  some  plan  of  gathering 
all  the  visitors,  male  and  female,  into  one  room, 
so  that  we  may  see  them.  Tell  Hautover. 
He'll  fix  it.  Have  them  rounded  up  as  soon  as 
possible.     I'll  be  back  in  five  minutes." 


THE  HAUTOVER  CASE  ai 

He  started  away  down  the  maple  walk  as 
he  spoke,  and  Dr.  Gerrish,  sadly  reluctant,  but 
feding  that  it  must  be  done,  sought  the  child's 
sorrowing  father. 

Within  the  stipulated  time  Dr.  Furnivall 
hurriedly  entered  the  house  and  found  that  the 
guests  were  assembling  in  one  of  the  drawing- 
rooms,  where  they  had  been  asked  to  meet  their 
host,  as  he  had  something  to  say  to  them  re- 
garding his  affliction, 

"There  are  eleven  of  them,"  whispered 
Dr.  Gerrish;  "seven  women  and  four  men. 
Three  men  and  four  women  are  already  gone?" 

"Before  their  time,"  asked  Furnivall,  quickly. 

"Yes,  on  account  of  this " 

"Were  the  women  married?" 

"All  but  one,  a  girl  of  19  or  so." 

"No  matter,  then.  The  indications  point 
to  a  middle  aged  spinster.  Or  she  might  be 
elderly.  It  is  barely  possible  that  she  is  mar- 
ried, but  if  so,  unhappily.  Fanaticism,  Gerrish; 
look  for  that.  Watch  their  eyes  for  fanaticism. 
Do  you  begin  to  see?" 

He  peered  half  curiously,  half  banteringly, 
at  his  colleague,  who  only  shook  his  head. 

"Well,  then,"  Furnivall  hurried  on,  "don't 
you  remember  the  abrasion  of  the  fortjhead, 
the  nakedness,  and  the  oil?" 

Gerrish  shuddered. 

"Only  too  well,"  he  said. 

"And  they  tell  you  nothing?" 

"Yes,"  he  returned,  "they  do.  They  tell 
me  that  somewhere  in.  the  world  there  is  a  fiend 
beneath  the  conception  of  the  human  mind,  '•* 


23      EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

"Well,  well,"  said  Furnivall  brusquely,  "it 
doesn't  strike  me  as  it  does  you.  When  you've 
seen  the  'fiend*  you'll  open  your  eyes.  And  I 
think  you'll  see  her  presently.  But  what's 
all  this?" 

From  the  drawing-room  came  sounds  of 
commotion,  and  entering  in  haste,  they  found 
that  the  task  Mr.  Hautover  had  set  for  himself 
had  been  too  much  for  his  state  of  mind  and 
he  had  collapsed  on  the  sofa. 

"You  look  after  him  Gerrish,"  said  Furni- 
vall. "This  is  just  my  chance.  I'll  speak  to 
them  myself." 

While  the  servants  carried  their  master  from 
the  room,  followed  by  Dr.  Gerrish,  Dr.  Furni- 
vall briefly  addressed  the  guests.  He  said  that 
their  host  had  only  meant  to  express  his  regret 
that  their  stay  had  been  so  calamitously  shortened, 
and  announced  that  the  house  would  be  closed 
on  the  morrow.  He  requested  that  reticence 
be  maintained  regarding  the  day's  occurrence 
until  the  guilty  person  should  be  apprehended. 
Suspicion  had  been  directed  toward  a  mendi- 
cant who  had  entered  the  kitchen  for  food, 
but  very  little  was  known  as  yet. 

One  minute  later,  in  Hautover's  chamber, 
he  shook  his  head  at  Dr*  Gerrish's  look  of  in- 
quiry. 

"No,"  he  said,  "there  isn't  a  person  among 
the  guests  now  in  the  house  who  could  by  any 
possibility  be  fitted  into  the  circumstances. 
Though  the  women  were,  without  exception, 
in  one  stage  or  another  of  hysteria,  and  might 
easily  do  some  foolish  thing  in  a  moment  oi 


THE  HAUTOVER  CASE  «» 

excitement,  not  one  of  them  was  capable  of 
the  sustained  cunning  and  method  of  this  crime, 
to  say  nothing  of  the  motive  of  it.  We  must 
look  among  the  servants.  Hautover,  how  do 
you  feel?    Could  you  answer  a  few  questions?" 

"Yes,  I  think  so,"  answered  the  sick  man, 
wearily.    He    was   lying   on    a    couch.    "It's 
terribly  harrowing,"  he  said,  in  a  feeble  voice 
"and  I  beg " 

"Well,  then,  I  need  only  ask  you  to  order 
all  the  female  servants  to  assemble  in  the  hall 
at  once." 

"  Very  well. "  He  touched  a  button  and  gave 
his  instructions. 

In  twenty  minutes  Dr.  Gerrish  saw  Furnivall 
beckoning  him  from  the  doorway.  He  excused 
himself  to  his  patient  and  went  into  the  hall. 
Furnivall 's  face  was  alight  with  triumph. 

"I've  seen  them  all,"  he  whispered  eagerly, 
"and  think  I'm  on  the  track.  I  am  going 
after  somebody,  and,  if  nothing  breaks,  I'll 
give  you  the  greatest  surprise  of  your  life  inside 
of  ten  minutes.  Now,  I  want  you  to  fix  it  so 
that  you  and  Hautover  can  hear  all  that  is  said 
in  the  boy's  room,  without  being  seen.  Get 
him  up,  give  him  a  stimulant — he  can  stand  it 
— and  have  him  there  in  ten  minutes." 

With  that  he  left  Gerrish,  who  stood  with 
a  look  of  fervent  profanity  in  his  face,  staring 
after  him,  and  almost  ran  down  the  maple  walk, 
along  which  he  had  searched  once  before  on 
that  evening. 

At  the  end  of  the  walk  the  iron  trelliswork 
of  a  gate  in  the  wall  barred  his  way,  but  he  had 


M      EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

already  found  tha4;  it  was  unlocked,  and  pv&^ 
ently  he  was  ringing  at  the  door  of  a  well  kept 
cottage  across  the  road. 

"I  wish  to  sec  Miss  Prentiss,"  he  said  to 
the  maid  who  answered  his  summons.  "  I  can't 
come  in;  I  am  a  doctor  from  the  Hautover 
place.  Please  ask  her  to  step  to  the  door.  I 
have  only  a  word  to  say  to  her," 

"I  am  Miss  Prentiss,"  said  a  timid  voice, 
and  a  woman  took  the  maid's  place  as  she 
stepped  back. 

"Good  evening.  Miss  Prentiss.  I  am  Dr. 
Furnivall.  I  have  just  come  from  Hautover 's 
to  see  if  you  or  your  sister  wouldn't  sit  up  with 
the  child  tom'ght.  They're  in  such  a  state  there, 
and  it's  a  matter  of  trust •" 

"Why,  most  gladly,  doctor,"  sounded  a  new 
voice  from  the  hall.  "We  will  both  go. 
Please  come  in  and  wait  a  moment,  and 
we'll  go  right  back  with  you.  Poor  dear 
Uttle  Tads!" 

The  doctor  stepped  forward  and  took  the 
hand  that  was  offered  him  by  this  second  speaker, 

"You  are  Miss  Helen,  I'm  sure,"  he  said, 
"They  told  me  of  your  love  for  the  little  boy. 
Hi*:  loss  must  be  a  great  blow  to  you.  Yct^ 
as  for  hint,  if  we  are  to  believe  in  the.  rewards 
oi  the:  pure  spirit  hereafter—'" 

**  Ah,  I  am  so  glad  you  look  at  it  that  way." 

She  gave  his  hand  an  additional  pressure, 
looking  up  at  him  brightly  through,  tears.  She 
was  a  woman  in  the  thirties,  with  light  eyes 
and  hair  turning  gra.y,  with,  a  piarid,  genteel 
ttcoression  of  the  face,  which,  showed  str«igt|t 


THE  HAUTOVER  CASE  »s 

of  character,  but  as  a  latent  rather  than  active 
quality.  Mildness  and  sweetness  predominated 
there,  though  she  was  plainly  the  ruler  of  the 
household.  The  sister,  whose  features  resem- 
bled hers  so  strongly  that  their  relationship  to 
each  other  could  not  be  mistaken,  seemed  some 
years  older,  but  was  very  evidently  the  silent 
partner.  She  only  stood  back  and  meekly 
smiled  at  their  visitor. 

The  ladies,  moving  quickly  and  method- 
ically, were  soon  ready,  and  the  three  set  off 
together,  the  doctor  walking  between  them.  It 
was  dark  under  the  maples,  and  by  comparing 
the  walk  to  the  dim  aisle  of  a  church  he  turned 
the  conversation  easily  upon  the  subject  of 
religion.     And  after  some  talk  he  said: 

"I  trust  that  the  clergyman  who  officiates 
at  the  burial  services  will  dwell  more  upon  the 
joys  of  immortality  than  upon  the  sorrow  the 
dead  leaves  behind  with  the  living." 

Miss  Helen  bent  her  head  in  the  direction  of 
her  sister. 

"Why,  Hannah,  he  thinks  just  as  we  do, 
doesn't  he?" 

"Yes,"  she  answered  in  her  thin,  colorless 
voice,  adding,  a  little  more  strongly,  "I  should 
think  everybody  would." 

"  Of  course,  it's  very  hard  to  lose  our  friends," 
continued  Helen,  "but  then  it  must  come  to 
that  sooner  or  later  with  all  of  us,  and  it's 
better  to  escape  the  world's  iniquities  and  have 
it  all  over  while  one  is  yoimg— — " 

She  paused  and  peered  up  at  the  doctor 
inquiringly.    They  had  come  into  the  glare  of 


a6     EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

the  electric  lights  now,  and  he  smiled  down  at 
her.  The  smile  might  have  meant  anything, 
but  she  took  it  for  assent,  and  was  continuing 
earnestly  when  he  cautioned  her  that  they  were 
approaching  the  house  and  had  better  finish 
the  conversation  inside. 

"Now,"  said  the  doctor,  as  they  entered  the 
room  where  the  body,  still  covered  with  a  sheet, 
lay  in  the  shade  cast  by  a  screen  before  the 
electric  globes,  "we  can  continue  our  interesting 
talk.  Let  me  make  you  comfortable  first.  Or, 
stay.  Perhaps  you  would  like  to  see  him 
again?" 

The  elder  woman  glanced  at  her  sister  hes- 
itatingly. Helen  immediately  took  her  hand 
and  led  her  to  the  bed,  where  the  doctor  turned 
the  sheet  back,  glancing  at  the  same  time  to- 
ward the  curtained  alcove. 

"He  was  a  beautiful  boy,"  he  said. 

Helen  bent,  kissing  the  cold  brow,  and  her 
eyes  were  dimmed  with  tears  as  she  rose. 

"Wh — why,"  stammered  Hannah  weakly, 
touching  the  body  with  her  fingers,  "they  have 
bathed  him,  and  the  oil  is  all  off!" 

"Hannah!" 
,     The  younger  wheeled  upon  her  sister  with 
blazing  eyes. 

"The  oil  isn't  necessary,"  said  the  doctor 
gently,  holding  Helen  with  his  gaze.  "What 
puzzles  me  is  how  you  managed  to  do  it  all 
without  being  seen.  There  were  so  many  peo- 
ple about,  and,  of  course,  they  wouldn't  under- 
stand, so  that  it  would  have  been  very  awk- 
ward  " 


THE  HAUTOVER  CASE  aj 

He  paused,  the  elder  sister  was  weeping  into 
her  handkerchief,  but  Helen  stood  drawn  up 
with  fury  in  her  eyes. 

"What  do  you  mean?"  she  cried.  "Do  it? 
Do  it?  Do  you  mean  to  insinuate  that  we 
had  any  part  in  this  ?  How  dare  you  ?  Why, 
I  loved  that  child  better  than  anything  on 
earth,  and  do  you  think  I  could  see  him  grow 
up  in  this  vitiated  atmosphere,  where  all  is  dis- 
sipation, frivolity,  idleness,  and  the  worship  of 
wealth,  where  money  is  God  and  fashion  the 
only  church?  In  such  surroundings  his  soul 
was  doomed.  Could  I  stand  tamely  by  while 
this  horrible  injustice  was  done  the  child  of  my 
dearest  school  friend?  I  should  be  unworthy 
the  name  of  Christian  woman.  Am  I  not  the 
bride  of  the  Lamb  ?  And  when  the  laws  of  man 
come  in  conflict  with  the  voice  of  God,  which 
should  I  follow  ?  It  was  by  God's  own  command 
that  I  laid  that  little  innocent  at  his  feet,  a 
holy  sacrifice.  He  went  to  his  Maker  pure  and 
unspotted " 

A  deep  groan  and  the  noise  of  a  fall  sounded 
behind  the  curtains  of  the  alcove.  Jonas  Haut- 
over  had  fainted  as  the  truths  of  the  crime  burst 
upon  him. 

Dr.  Gerrish,  pallid  of  face,  stepped  hastily 
between  the  parted  curtains  and  hurried  away 
for  restoratives.  Astonishment  mingled  with 
the  grief  in  his  expression  as  he  glanced  at  the 
two  women.  Nothing  further  from  the  fiend 
he  had  pictured  in  his  mind  could  be  con- 
ceived than  the  appearance  of  these  sisters,  the 
one  meek,  retiring,  humble  faced;  the  other, 


a8      EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

though  showing  at  the  moment  strong  symp- 
toms of  hysteria,  plainly  of  a  sweet  and  gracious 
disposition,  both  of  them  bearing  the  unmis- 
takable imprint  of  good  breeding  and  benevo- 
lence. 

"Heavens!"  he  exclaimed  under  his  breath, 
"Fumivall  has  kept  his  word  with  a  vengeance. 
This  is  the  greatest  surprise  of  my  life!" 

But  his  surprise  in  this  direction  was  mingled 
with  admiration  of  his  friend's  powers.  He 
saw  behind  this  strange  deposition,  which  had 
begun  as  denial  and  glided  easily  into  confes- 
sion, without  any  apparent  recognition  by  the 
speaker  of  the  contradiction  involved,  the  same 
unostentatious  force  which  had  wrought  the 
astonishing  change  in  Jack  Harwich.  It  was 
an  accomplishment  of  surpassing  interest  to 
science.  What  was  it?  It  was  not  hypnotism 
in  the  usual  sense,  with  its  claptrap  shows  and 
humbuggery.  And  it  had  worked  so  smoothly, 
so  directly  to  the  point,  so  unerringly.  Was  it  a 
gift  to  Dr.  Furnivall  alone?  Or  could  it  be 
acquired?  And  these  were  the  predominant 
questions  in  his  mind,  when  a  little  later,  they 
started  on  their  midnight  drive  back  to  the  dty, 
for  if  it  were  to  be  learned,  if  it  were  a  science, 
«nd  application  would  make  it  his  own,  it  should 
be  his.  The  importance  of  such  a  power  a« 
that  in  his  profession  would  prove  incal- 
culable. 

Nevertheless  he  fdt  that  now  was  scarcely 
the  time  to  enter  into  that  ma;ttcr  with  the 
doctor,  and  the  first  thing  he  said  when  they 
^"out  was: 


THE  HAUTOVER  CASE  ^9 

"  Doctor,  I  don't  at  all  see  how  in  the  world 
you  managed  to  trace  those  -women  out. " 

"There  was  never  anything  more  simple," 
he  answered.  "You  remember  that  mark  on 
the  forehead?  It  was  in  the  shape  of  a  cross. 
That  and  the  sacrificial  oil  satisfied  me  that 
it  was  a  case  of  religious  insanity.  The 
rest  was  easy.  I  had  only  to  find  a  person 
whose  character  fitted  all  the  circumstances. 
The  police  searched  for  motive,  and  motive 
in  the  usual  mind  is  synonynfous.  with  money. 
Therefore  their  suspicion  pointed  to  poor  Jack. 
But  as  soon  as  I  saw  Helen  Prentiss'  pic- 
ture, and  learned  from  the  housekeeper  that  she 
was  religious,  unmarried,  and  therefore  more 
likely  to  be  subject  to  hysterical  insanity,  near 
middle  age,  lived  down  that  walk,  and  had  free 
access  to  the  house,  I  knew  I  was  on  the  scent. 
She  was  the  only  being  about  the  premises  whose 
character,  as  I  saw  it  in  her  picture  and  learned 
it  from  the  housekeeper,  fitted  all  the  facts. 
Both  she  and  her  sister  have  hallucinations, 
visual  and  auditory,  and  they  had  talked  the 
matter  of  this  sacrifice  over  for  a  long  while, 
no  doubt,  before  acting,  and  were  both  in  it, 
the  younger  leading  and  the  elder  following 
meekly.  But  only  the  younger  had  the 
courage  to  hold  out  to  the  last.  It  was  she 
who  committed  the  deed,  in  their  own  house, 
where  the  child  often  went,  and  who  brought 
the  body  home.  An  insane  hospital  is  the 
place  for  them." 

Dr.  Gerrish  was  silent  for  a  long  while. 
Finally,  as  they  rolled  up  to  the  door: 


so     EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

"Shall  you  do  any  more  of  this  kind  of 
work?"  he  asked,  with  distaste  in  his  tone. 

Dr.  Fumivall  took  his  hand. 

"Gerrish,"  he  said,  "if  a  dear  friend  of 
your  own  were  in  trouble,  whom  would  you 
rather  trust  his  case  to,  the  police  or  me?" 

Gerrish  bowed  his  head. 

"Well,  good  luck  to  you,"  he  said. 


The  Mystery  of  the 
Governess 


THE  MYSTERY  OF  THE  GOVERNESS 

Returning  to  his  home  one  spring  morn- 
ing from  a  two  days'  visit  in  the  country, 
Dr.  Furnivall,  the  physician  detective,  was 
met  at  the  door  of  his  study  by  Dr.  Gerrish, 
who,  without  even  pausing  to  greet  him, 
cried  out  eagerly: 

'*Have  you  seen  the  newspapers  of  yester- 
day and  today?" 

"Yes.  That's  why  I  am  here.  I  recog- 
nized your  protege's  name,  and  hurried,  for  I 
expected  you  would  be  waiting.  Begin  at  the 
beginning  and  tell  me  all  about  it." 

It  was  then  that,  for  the  first  time.  Dr.  Ger- 
rish experienced  subjectively  the  wonders  he 
had  twice  seen  worked  on  others  by  those 
marvelous  eyes.  For  as  he  sat  on  the  forward 
edge  of  his  chair,  his  nerves  thrilling  with  an 
excitement  he  had  for  hours  striven  vainly  to 
repress,  and  looked  into  them  he  saw  the  blue 
of  them  begin  rapidly  to  shift  from  blue  to 
gray  and  gray  to  blue,  flaming  and  undulat- 
ing, so  that  to  follow  their  swift  and  subtle 
changes  filled  him  with  strange  sensations. 
A  prickling  shot  up  and  down  his  spine,  warm 
waves  surged  through  his  body,  there  was  a 
buzzing  in  his  ears,  and  his  mind  was  a  chaos 
of  broken  and  jumbled-up  images.  He  had 
not  a  sane  thought  in  his  head.  Then  sud- 
denly the  blue  and  gray  leaped  to  a  steady, 


34      EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

limpid  black,  flooding  him  with  peace.  He 
forgot  his  nerves,  he  saw  nothing  but  those 
two  placid,  pellucid,  bottomless  wells,  the 
confusion  in  his  mind  which  had  left  him  all 
abroad  as  to  the  proper  point  at  which  to 
begin  his  story  vanished,  and  he  became 
calm  and  clear  headed,  with  the  tale  plainly 
outlined  in  his  inner  vision  from  start  to 
finish. 

It  was  only  by  a  supreme  efifort  of  will,  which 
was  most  disagreeable  in  the  exercise,  that 
he  managed  to  switch  his  thoughts  momen- 
tarily aside  and  say  deprecatingly,  with  a  faint 
smile : 

"You   consider   it   necessary — for   me!" 

"For  you,  as  for  everybody  who  is  confused 
and  excited,"  said  Dr.  Furnivall.  "It's  nothing 
but  a  sedative.  You  probably  will  be  sur- 
prised when  you  are  through  to  find  what 
an  excellent  raconteur  you  are.  If  so,  it  will 
be  only  because  your  mind  is  concentrated  on 
your  story,  and  does  not  run  off  at  unimpor- 
tant tangents.     Go  on;  I'm  ready." 

"But ,"  began  Dr.  Gerrish,  with  a  last 

faint  flicker  of  protest,  the  protest  a  man  feels 
against  having  his  freedom  controlled  by  another 
in  any  degree. 

Dr.  Furnivall  smiled  grimly. 

"I  am  controlling  you,  Gerrish,"  he  said, 
"no  more  than  I  have  done  a  hundred  times 
before  without  your  knowledge.  Your  atten- 
tion has  been  called  to  the  fact  now  by  what 
I  did  to  those  others,  and  you  recognize  it, 
that's  all  the  difference.    And  even  at  that  I 


THE  MYSTERY  OF  THE  GOVERNESS         35 

am  only  doing,  in  principle,  what  you  do  when 
you  give  your  patients  a  pill.  I'll  tell  you 
the  secret  of  it  in  due  season,  and  then  you 
will  see  my  justification.  It  won't  hurt  you, 
I  pass  my  word.     Now  proceed." 

"Well,  then,"  continued  Dr.  Gerrish,  sub- 
missively, "you  remember  the  young  fellow 
I've  been  helping  through  the  medical  school. 
You  never  saw  him,  but  I've  told  you  about 
him — Percival  Warner.  He  was  graduated 
last  year.  It  seems  he  was  engaged  to  be 
married  to  this  Blanche  Goodwin,  and  they 
used  to  walk  together  evenings  along  the 
river  banks.  Night  before  last,  Tuesday  night, 
she  left  her  home  at  8  o'clock — she's  a  gov- 
erness with  the  Parkers — to  meet  him,  as  it 
is  supposed,  but  she  didn't  return,  and  in 
the  morning  her  body  was  found  in  the 
river. 

"The  papers  raised  a  great  hue  and  cry  over 
it,  of  course.  Naturally  the  suspicions  of  the 
police  flew  to  Warner,  though,  as  there  were 
no  bruises  on  the  corpse  and  no  signs  of  chok- 
ing, some  thought  she  might  have  been  dazzled 
by  the  lights  where  the  road  is  being  repaired 
and  fallen  over  the  rocks  into  the  water  in  the 
darkness. 

"Those  who  knew  Warner  wouldn't  listen 
to  a  word  against  him.  He  was  dead  in 
love  with  the  girl,  as  she  was  with  him, 
they  said,  and  the  two  were  bending  all  their 
efforts  toward  the  accumulation  of  an  income 
sufficient  to  warrant  their  entering  the  mar- 
riage relation. 


3tf     EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

"They  were  bound  up  in  each  other.  But 
when  it  was  found  that  Warner  himself  had 
left  his  room  that  evening  at  8  o'clock  and  had 
not  been  seen  afterward,  the  police  were  satis- 
fied. They  held  that  there  had  been  a  quarrel 
and  he  had  pushed  her  overboard,  so  they 
began  to  search  for  him.  That  evening, 
Wednesday,  a  man  came  in  great  fear  and 
trembling  to  the  police  lieutenant  and  said 
that  he  was  a  watchman  in  the  car  barn  near 
by,  and  that  on  Tuesday  evening  he  had  seen 
Miss  Goodwin  and  Warner,  both  of  whom 
he  knew  well  by  sight,  leaning  on  the  bridge 
railing  together.  Suddenly  he  heard  the  girl 
say,  'Don't,  don't  kill  me,  Percy.  You  said 
you  would  once  before.'  Upon  that  Warner 
struck  her  and  she  fell  on  the  roadway.  The 
watchman  hurried  up  and  said,  *Mr.  Warner, 
you'll  sufifer  for  this.'  Warner  returned  fur- 
iously, 'If  you  open  your  mouth  about  it  I'll 
serve  you  the  same,'  and  threw  the  girl  into 
the  river.  Then  the  watchman,  who  was  a 
much  smaller  man  than  Warner,  ran  back  to 
the  bam  and  locked  himself  in,  where  he  re- 
mained until  his  conscience  overcame  his  fear 
of  Warner,  when  he  ventured  forth  and  gave 
his  information." 

Dr.  Gerrish  here  paused  and  produced  a 
jfcrge  diary,  bound  in  red.  His  voice  had 
been  perfectly  restrained,  indeed  mechanical, 
as  he  repeated  the  grewsome  story,  and  now 
he  continued  in  the  same  tone,  still  held  as  if 
unconsciously  by  Furnivall's  gaze,  his  eyes 
never  straying  the  width  of  a  hair  from  those 


THE  MYSTERY  OF  THE  GOVERNESS         37 

bottomless  depths,  even  when  he  showed  the 
diary  and  laid  its  pages  open: 

"This  volume  I  found  in  her  room  when  I 
went  there  yesterday.  It  is  a  confession  of 
her  passionate  love,  the  record  of  a  year  and 
more.  She  tells  how  first  she  met  him,  where 
they  went,  what  they  did,  and  so  on,  for  nearly 
every  day  during  the  year.  The  minutest 
details  are  gone  into,  and  the  most  passionate 
and  intimate  passages  between  them  are 
given  with  perfect  candor.  In  short,  it  is 
the  whole  love  story  of  two  extravagantly 
fond  people.     But " 

Dr.  Gerrish  placed  the  diary  carefully  on 
the  table  and  added: 

"It  was  always  in  the  afternoon,  not  evening, 
that  she  met  him,  and  his  name  was  not  Per- 
cival,  but  John." 

Dr.  Furnivall  jumped  to  his  feet  and  clapped 
his  hands  in  the  air. 

"Jove,  Gerrish!"  he  exclaimed  delightedly, 
"you're  a  jewel!  'Tis  the  most  beautiful 
complication!  The  curves  and  angles  are  as 
clean  cut  and  lovely  as  in  a  Greek  statue,  or 
even  in  the  propositions  of  Euclid  himself. 
Let  me  see  that  diary." 

He  examined  it  rapidly,  pushing  over  the 
leaves  from  the  first  page  to  the  last.  Then 
he  threw  it  down.  As  he  did  so.  Dr.  Gerrish 
said,  with  returning  nervousness: 

"Do  you  remember  your  last  words  to  me 
the  night  of  the  Hautover  case?" 

"Why,  I  believe  I  asked  you,  when  you 
seemed  to  disapprove  of  my  neglecting  medi- 


38      EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

cine  for  detective  work,  whether  if  you  had  a 
friend  in  trouble  you  would  rather  leave  his 
case  to  the  police  or  me?" 

"Yes,  that  was  exactly  it.  But  I  little 
thought  I  should  ever  have  to  call  on  you. 
It  was  abstract  justice  I  was  thinking  of  when 
I  wished  you  good  luck,  justice  which  you 
might  force  when  some  poor  fellow  was  suf- 
fering unjustly.     Now — now " 

Fumivall  wheeled  upon  him  as  he  hesi- 
tated. 

"Do  you  mean,"  he  said,  "that  if  this  young 
man  is  guilty  you  don't  wish  me  to  prove  it?" 

Gerrish  remained  silent,  his  eyes  turned 
persistently  away  from  Furnivall's. 

"I — I  don't  know  what  to  say,"  he  stam- 
mered finally.  "I  fairly  loved  that  boy,  he 
was  all  that  is  noble  and  manly.  He  simply 
couldn't  have  done  it.  I  knew  his  people. 
They  were  sound  mentally  and  physically.  Yet 
— yet !  That  diary — suppose  he  had  found 
out  about  this  other  man — and  now  his  absence 
— the  watchman's  confession " 

Fumivall  waved  his  hand  carelessly  -and 
sank  back  into  his  seat. 

"All  right,"  he  said.  "It  is  a  mere  matter 
of  weight  between  the  boy's  character  as  you 
know  it,  and  the  evidence  against  him.  With 
you  the  evidence  is  the  heavier." 

"But  isn't  it  with  you?"  Gerrish  regarded 
his  friend  eagerly.  "I  brought  the  whole 
case  to  you,  just  as  I  saw  it,  in  order  to  get 
your  opinion — ^to  see  if — if  there  wasn't  some 
hope,  some  way " 


THE  MYSTERY  OF  THE  GOVERNESS         39 

"Of  escape  for  the  guilty!"  interrupted 
Fumivall  dryly. 

Gerrish's  fair  face  colored. 

"If  I  had  a  noble  and  manly  friend,"  went 
on  Dr.  Furnivall  in  a  matter  of  fact  tone, 
**I  should  think  it  my  sacred  duty  to  con- 
sider him  innocent  until  he  was  proved  guilty. 
And  I'd  fight  the  whole  world  for  him.  But 
you  do  not  seem  to  believe,  really,  that  'noble 
and  manly'  describes  this  friend  of  yours, 
though  you  used  the  phrase.  Or  else,"  he 
added  after  a  pause,  and  with  sarcasm,  "you 
think  it  possible  that  a  manly  and  noble  youth, 
with  good  blood  back  of  him,  could  knock 
down  a  defenseless  girl  and  throw  her  body 
into  the  river." 

"But — but — the  evidence — "  objected  Ger- 
rish  helplessly. 

"I  will  undertake  to  solve  this  mystery, 
but  only  to  find  the  truth,"  interrupted  Dr. 
Fumivall  imperturbably. 

Gerrish,  with  a  sudden  determined  expres- 
sion, arose. 

"Come,"  he  said,  "I'll  help  you— but  I'd 
stake  my  life  on  the  boy." 

"Well,  that  would  have  been  something 
like,  if  you  had  said  it  in  the  first  place," 
grumbled  Fumivall,  as  they  hastened  out. 
"Your  suspicions  should  have  indicated  the 
other  man  instead  of  the  one  you  trusted,  as 
soon  as  you  saw  the  diary.  Why  shouldn't 
it  be  he?  But  that's  the  way  with  the  human 
mind,"  he  added  querulously,  as  they  entered 
his  motor  and  sped  away,  "it  always  jumps 


40      EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DCTECTIVE 

to  the  thing  it  fears  most,  like  the  moth 
to  the  candle.  It  can't  seem  to  see  anything 
else.  So  it  is  always  biased  in  the  direction 
of  overthrow,  like  the  old  woman  who  was 
afraid  she'd  go  out  over  the  back  of  the  sleigh 
every  time  it  struck  a  cradle  in  the  road,  and 
so  finally  did." 

"That's  right,  give  it  to  me,"  said  Gerrish. 
"I  know  I  deserve  it,  and  will  accept  it 
meekly." 

"Yes — because  you  think  I  believe  your 
friend  innocent.  That  eases  your  mind.  But 
I  am  not  at  all  sure  of  that  innocence.  The 
whole  thing  looks  bad  for  him,  and  the  only 
argument  on  his  side,  so  far,  is  his  character. 
If  you  have  read  him  rightly  he  would  never 
dream  of  hurting  the  girl,  even  if  he  found 
her  perfidious.  He  would  rather  be  glad  to 
get  rid  of  her  by  turning  her  over  to  the  happy 
John.  If  you  have  been  mistaken  in  him  all 
things  are  possible.  I  don't  know  him  myself, 
so  I  rely  on  you,  and  must  work  on  the 
supposition  that  he  could  not  have  done  it, 
as  straight  against  him  as  the  evidence  tends. 
Life  is  full  of  coincidences,  cases  of  mis- 
taken identity,  and  appearances  as  distin- 
guished from  truth.  You  learned  that  long 
ago  in  your  practice.  Besides,  on  the  other 
side,  any  person  who  could  commit  murder 
should  be  nabbed  and  put  where  he  couldn't 
even  if  he  had  been  thought  manly  and  noble. 
Here  we  are." 

They  were  now  in  a  small  suburb,  the  scene 
of  the  crime,  some  three  miles  out,  and  drew 


TBE  MYSTERY  OF  THE  GOVERNESS        41 

up  at  the  door  of  the  undertaker's  establish- 
ment where  the  body  lay. 

"If  you  had  told  me  we  were  coming  here 
I  could  have  saved  you  the  trouble,  for  I  have 
seen  the  body,  and  there  are  no  marks  of 
violence  on  it,"  said  Dr.  Gerrish  as  they 
alighted. 

Dr.  Fumivall  did  not  answer  until  they  had 
pushed  through  the  mob  of  men,  women,  and 
children  around  the  door  of  the  little  place. 
Then  he  said: 

"I  am  not  looking  for  signs  of  violence, 
but  for  something  quite  different,"  adding, 
as  he  motioned  for  the  two  or  three  neigh- 
bors, who  stood  staring  awestricken  at  the 
corpse,  to  move  back,  "I  must  make  the  facts 
my  own  at  first  hand  as  nearly  as  possible. 
Different  men  do  not  see  even  plain  facts 
alike  on  all  sides." 

Dr.  Gerrish,  watching  curiously,  saw  his 
brows  knit  as  he  scrutinized  the  face  of  the 
dead.  An  introspective  expression  came  into 
his  features  as  if  he  were  making  an  effort 
of  memory,  and  for  some  seconds  he  remained 
in  an  indeterminate  attitude,  one  hand  on 
the  marble  slab  on  which  the  body  lay,  bend- 
ing over  it,  though  apparently  seeing  with  the 
eyes  of  the  mind  alone.  Suddenly  he  turned 
to  the  undertaker's  assistant. 

"I  suppose  she  was  brought  directly  here 
from  the  river?" 

"Yes,  doctor,"  he  answered  respectfully. 
He  was  a  callow  youth  with  mild  features, 
who,  having  been  smoking  and  playing  cards 


42      EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

with  several  other  men  in  an  inner  room,  laid 
his  cigar  on  a  shelf,  closed  the  door,  and  came 
forward  zealously  when  he  recognized  the 
famous  physician  of  the  penitentiary. 

"Have  any  of  the  Parkers,  the  people  who 
employed  her,  been  here?" 

"No,  sir.  Mr.  Parker  left  for  the  West  last 
night,  and  I  suppose  Mrs.  Parker — she's  pretty 
tony,  you  know." 

"Who  found  the  body?" 

"The  groceryman.  Bill  Anderson,  doctor. 
He  was  just  coming  from  the  Parker  place. 
The  police  had  her  brought  here  and  sent  for 
her  relatives." 

"Where  are  her  clothes?" 

"Here,  doctor,"  pointing.  "They  were 
soaked  through  and  about  spoilt,  but  we  dried 
'em  out." 

Fumivall  turned  to  them  briskly.  They 
were  l)dng  on  a  table  in  a  heap,  and  he  exam- 
ined several  pieces  one  by  one. 

"I'll  wager  you  confined  your  attention  to 
the  body,  Gerrish,"  he  said.  "You  never 
looked  at  these?" 

"Certainly  not.  Why  should  I?  They 
wouldn't  be  likely  to  show  what  the  body 
didn't." 

"Don't  you  see  anything  extraordinary  in 
them  now?" 

"Why,  no.  I  can't  say  I  do.  But  stay— 
they  have  been  cut  or  torn  in  pieces " 

"Yes,  yes.  The  name-marks  were  removed. 
That  is  strange,  certainly,  but  is  that  all  you 
see?" 


THE  MYSTERY  OF  THE  GO\ERNESS         43 

Gerrish  scanned  them  again  and  shook  his 
head. 

"I  am  a  physician,  not  a  dressmaker,"  he 
said,  somewhat  sarcastically. 

"Nor  a  detective,"  added  Furnivall.  "But 
I  am.  And  I  see  enough  in  that  pile  of  wear- 
ing apparel  to  upset  my  whole  theory  of  the 
case." 

"You  had  a  theory,  then?"  asked  Gerrish 
eagerly. 

"Certainly,  and  a  wrong  one,  when,  but 
for  your  stupidity,  it  would  have  been  the 
right  one — as  it  is  now,"  he  added,  rushing 
from  the  shop  and  jumping  into  the  auto- 
mobile, without  paying  any  attention  to  his 
companion's  look  of  amazement  and  hurt. 
The  next  moment  they  were  whirling  down 
the  street,  and  presently  drew  up  at  a  tele- 
graph office. 

Into  this  Furnivall  hurried,  telling  Ger- 
rish to  remain  where  he  was,  and  stayed  a 
full  half  hour*  Through  the  windows  he 
could  he  seen  consulting  a  newspaper  and 
dashing  off  numerous  telegrams.  When  he 
reappeared  it  was  with  a  countenance  emi- 
nently good  humored. 

"We'll  see  the  watchman  next,"  he  said  ag 
they  shot  away.  "They  told  me  in  there  that 
they  held  him  up  to  this  morning,  and  then 
decided  to  let  him  go  on  the  car  company's 
recognizance.  He  is  probably  asleep  now 
in  his  room  at  the  bam,  for  his  work  is  done 
at  night.  As  I  question  him,  watch  him, 
for    unless    I'm    most    egregiously    mistaken 


44     EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

you'll    see    something  of    curious  interest    to 
psychiatry." 

"I  suppose  it's  my  stupidity,"  returned 
Gerrish,  "but  I  confess  that  your  theories 
seem  to  me  to  be  made  too  nearly  out  of  whole 
cloth.  How  can  you  have  any  notion  of 
what  this  man  is  like  or  what  he  will  do  or 
say,  or  that  he  will  prove  interesting  to  science  ? 
I  admit,"  he  added  hastily,  as  Fumivall  stared 
at  him,  "that  you  usually  hit  the  bull's-eye, 
but  how? — that's  what  sticks  me,  and  I  ask 
for  information?" 

Fumivall  threw  back  his  head  and  laughed. 

"Why,"  he  said,  "allowing  for  a  few  addi- 
tions and  subtractions  as  I  go  along,  it  is  the 
simplest  thing  in  the  world.  Tell  me,  now, 
how  many  new  kinds  of  crime  have  you  heard 
of  since  you  were  a  boy  in  college?" 

"Well,"  returned  Gerrish,  thinking  slowly, 
"I  used  to  read " 

"Exactly,"  Furnivall  interrupted,  "you  had 
read  Poe,  Gaboreau,  and  the  others  and  his- 
tory, besides  the  newspapers,  and  so,  even  as 
a  boy,  you  were  familiar  with  all  of  them,  or 
had  heard  of  all  of  them.  For  there  are  no 
new  ones.  They  are  new  only  until  they 
are  laid  bare,  when  they  are  seen  to  be  one  of 
a  class  that  has  been  known  pretty  nearly 
from  the  dawn  of  time.     Isn't  that  so?" 

"I  don't  know  but  it  is,"  said  Gerrish, 
doubtfully.  The  thought  was  a  strange  one 
to  him  and  he  couldn't  entertain  it  too  readily. 

"Yes.  We  have  twenty-six  letters  of  the 
alphabet  only,  and  out  of  these  250,000  differ- 


THE  MYSTERY  OF  THE  GOVERNESS         45 

ent  words  arc  made  to  compose  the  English 
language.  In  physics  there  are  some  seventy 
bases,  and  of  these  are  constituted  all  the 
different  objects  on  earth.  And  you  know 
how  it  is  in  medicine,  how  few  at  bottom 
the  principles  are,  and  what  an  enormous 
multitude  of  forms  they  can  be  made  to  assume. 
Schiller  and  others  showed  that  all  the  various 
plots  employed  by  dramatists  and  story-tell- 
ers in  all  the  ages  may  be  reduced  to  an  extra- 
ordinarily small  number  at  bottom.  I  don't 
recollect  how  many,  but  somewhere  about 
the  twenties.  And  it  is  so  with  everything, 
even  with  crime.  The  principles  involved 
are  few,  and  one  who  is  familiar  with  the 
subject,  who  has  digested  and  co-ordinated 
all  the  cases,  has  only  to  learn  the  facts  of  a 
crime  in  order  to  name  the  class  to  which  it 
belongs.  The  class  being  determined,  the 
next  thing  is  to  find  the  person  concerned 
whose  character  would  admit  of  his  belong- 
ing to  that  class,  as  in  language,  physics, 
medicine,  and  plots." 

"Ah!  You  think,  then,  that  this  watch- 
man  "  began  Gerrish,  excitedly. 

"Sh-h!"  cautioned  Furnivall,  "this  is  the 
place,  I  fancy,"  and  stopped  the  machine 
before  the  office  of  the  car  barn. 

They  found,  as  Dr.  Fumivall  had  prophe- 
sied, that  the  watchman  was  asleep  in  a  dis- 
tant corner  of  the  building.  The  superin- 
tendent offered  to  send  for  him,  but  Fumivall 
declined  the  favor  and  asked  to  be  shown  to 
the    room.    Here    the    man    was    awakened 


46      EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

without  difl&culty,  and,  lying  in  bed,  told  his 
story  as  the  newspapers  had  printed  it,  and 
as  it  had  been  repeated  by  Dr.  Gerrish. 

A  thrill  of  excitement  shot  through  the 
younger  physician  as  his  friend,  standing  in 
front  of  the  reclining  man  and  looking  down 
into  his  eyes,  began  to  question  him.  He 
expected  some  startling  denouement,  though 
he  had  no  idea  what  its  nature  would  be,  and 
he  listened  and  watched  with  bated  breath. 
The  man  was  a  white  faced,  sandy  little  Irish- 
man of  perhaps  30,  with  thin,  reddish  whiskers 
and  hair,  nervous  in  manner,  and  his  speech, 
though  directly  to  the  point  while  he  was 
telling  his  story,  was  quick  and  jerky.  But 
for  the  frequent  short  pauses  between  phrases 
the  words  would  have  tumbled  over  each 
other  as  they  shot  from  his  colorless  lips  and 
became  an  incoherent  jargon.  He  was  thor- 
oughly in  earnest,  however,  and  spoke  apparently 
right  from  his  heart,  with  spasmodic  gestures. 

"Let's  see,  this  was  on  Tuesday  evening," 
said  Furnivall.  "At  what  time  did  you  first 
notice  this  young  couple?" 

"'Twas  jist  tin  minutes  afther  nine,  sor. 
'Twas  sure  that  toime,  becaze  why?  Becaze 
Oi  go  round  th'  place  wanst  ivery  hour,  an' 
'tis  jist  tin  minutes  Oi  am  frum  th'  office  t' 
th'  soide  dure  phwere  Oi  seen  thim.  Oi 
shtart  in  th'  office,  sor,  an'  phwin  Oi  pass  th' 
dure  Oi'm  alwuz  afther  takin'  a  look  out,  jist 
fer  t'  mind  th'  weather,  sor,  an'  how  bes  it 
out  around  th'  yard,  an'  'twas  th'  nine  o'clock 
thrip." 


THE  MYSTERY  OF  THE  GOVERNESS         47 

"Were  they  on  the  bridge  then?" 

"They  wuz,  sor,  lanin'  on  th " 

"How  did  you  know  them?  The  night 
was  dark,  wasn't  it?" 

"Sure  Oi  did  not  know  thim  at  th'  toime, 
sor,  but  I  thought  it  wes  thim,  becaze  they 
do  be  afther  walkin*  around  th'  bridge  scand'- 
lous  frequent,  an  thin  phwin  she  calls  him 
*  Percy'  I  knows,  an'  phwin  Oi  runs  up  til 
'im  Oi  sees  him,  sor,  an'  Oi  shpakes  til  'im, 
faith,  an'  be  th'  same  token  he  shpakes  back." 

"Yes,  and  the  woman?  She  was  lying  on 
the  bridge  at  that  moment,  wasn't  she?" 

"She  was,  sor.     An  Oi  sez " 

"Was  she  laid  straight  out,  doubled  up, 
or  how?" 

"Oi  c'u'dn't  say,  sor.  Oi  jist  seen  her 
there." 

"Was  she  moaning, or  moving  around  any?" 

The  Irishman  wrinkled  his  brows  and 
stared  into  his  questioner's  eyes  with  an  expres- 
sion of  dismay. 

"Sure,  me  mind  is  black  dead,"  he  said  in 
astonishment.     "Oi  can't  think." 

"Well,  and  when  he  threatened  you,  you 
ran  back  to  the  barn?" 

"Oi  did,  sor,  loike  a  snipe,  an*  locked 
mesil'  in." 

"Isn't  the  car  bam  kept  open  later  than 
9  o'clock?  Weren't  there  any  people  about, 
conductors  and  motormen,  and  others,  with 
cars  going  and  coming  all  the  time?" 

Again  the  puzzled  expression  possessed  his 
face,  and  he  answered: 


48     EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

"  Oi  don't  remember,  sor." 

"Yes.  And  you  didn't  go  your  rounds 
after  that,  but  remained  locked  in  your  room, 
this  room?" 

"Oi  did,  sor." 

"And  you  stayed  here  all  the  next  day?" 

"Oidid." 

"Sleeping?" 

"No,  sor.  Oi  c'u'dn't  shlape,  Oi  was  that 
frighted." 

"Did  you  eat  anything?" 

"Oi — oi  don't  remimber." 

"Where  do  you  get  your  meals  usually?" 

"Wid  th'  Widdy  McGuire.  'Tis  a  boardin' 
place  she  kapes." 

"Yes.  When  did  you  first  hear,  that  the 
body  had  been  found  in  the  river?" 

"Siven  o'clock,  sor,  that  momin'.  'Twes 
Tim  Dooley,  th'  conductor,  sor,  wes  afther 
tellin'  me.     Miss  Goodwin " 

"Where  did  you  see  this  Dooley?" 

"On  th'  car,  sor,  phwin  he  jumped  ofif  an* 
wint  t'  th'  office,  sor." 

"Yes,  and  where  did  you  get  your  news- 
paper that  day?" 

"In  th'  office,  sor.  'Tis  there  Oi  get  it 
ivery  mamin'." 

"Then,  I  suppose,  you  went  to  your  break- 
fast at  McGuire's,  and  afterwards  came  up 
here  and  read  your  paper?" 

"Yis,  sor." 

"There  was  nothing  about  the  crime  in  it?" 

"Nor,  sor,  'twes  th'  marnin  paper.  'Twes 
in  th'  avenin'  wan  it  foist  came  out." 


THE  MYSTERY  OF  THE  GOVERNESS        49 

"And  how  did  you  get  that?" 

"Oi  bought  it,  sor,  mesil',  afif  a  b'y  in  th* 
shtrat." 

Fumivall  looked  coolly  at  his  friend. 

"Well,  thank  you,  my  man,"  he  said,  "for 
your  trouble.  Don't  fear  that  fellow  any 
longer,  but  go  to  sleep  in  peace.  I'll  guaran- 
tee he'll  never  hurt  you." 

"What  in  the  name  of  heaven  can  you 
make  out  of  that?"  cried  Gerrish  as  the  door 
closed  behind  them.  "That  fellow  lied  right 
and  left,  and  was  as  honest  as  a  judge  about 
it.  I  never  in  my  life  saw  a  case  of  such  glar- 
ing mendacity  in  words  coupled  with  such 
honesty  of  manner." 

"I  told  you  you'd  see  something  of  curious 
interest,  but  you  don't  seem  to  catch  on  yet. 
No  matter,  you  will  soon.  Ah,  here's  a  door 
that  must  be  the  one  he  mentioned.  Can 
you  see  any  bridge  from  here?" 

"Great  Scott,  man,  the  bridge  is  on  the 
other  side  of  the  barn." 

"Yes,  but  do  you  see  any  door  on  that 
side?" 

"No,  and  there  is  none.  There  are  only 
windows,  and  they're  so  high  up  that  it  would 
require  a  giraffe  to  see  out  of  them.  Of  all 
the  liars " 

"Come  into  the  ofl&ce,"  interrupted  Fumi- 
vall, rubbing  his  hands  delightedly.  "I  wish 
to  show  you  something." 

The  superintendent,  who  was  very  oblig- 
ing to  the  well  known  physician,  produced 
the  watchman's  time  card  for  Tuesday  night, 


so     EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

at  his  request.    \^thout  looking  at  it  Pur- 
nivall  passed  it  over  to  his  friend,  saying: 

"You  understand  these  cards,  don't  you? 
See,  this  is  a  flat  disk  of  paper,  with  the  hours 
marked;  on  it,  like  a  clock.  It  fits  into  a 
machine  in  the  office,  and  when  the  watch- 
man presses  a  certain  button  on  each  floor 
the  push  is  registered  here.  This  is  the  disk 
for  Tuesday  night.  If  you  don't  find  every 
floor  registered  there  for  every  hour  of  the 
night — the  night,  mind  you,  when,  he  claimed, 
he  was  locked  in  his  room  trembling  with 
fear " 

"It's  all  here,"  cried  Gerrish  in  disgust 
"On  every  floor,  every  hour.  He  performed 
his  duties  that  night  the  same  as  usual.  By 
Jove,  that  fellow  committed  the  crime  him- 
self, and  is  trying  to " 

Fumivall  looked  at  him  quizzically. 

"What  did  he  do  with  Warner,  then? 
Wurner  could  throw  that  little  fellow  a  rod, 
couldn't  he?" 

Gerrish  appeared  chagrined. 

"That's  so,"  he  admitted.  "Still,"  he  con- 
tinued, "I  thought  this  hypnotism  of  yours 
made  a  man  tell  the  truth.  How  could  he 
contradict  himself  so?  And  what  does  it  all 
mean?" 

"Ah,,  it's  Pilate's  old  question.  'What  is 
truth?*  And  it  means  that  you  have  just 
witnessed  what  I  thought  you  would— a  spec- 
tacle of  extraordinary  interest  to  both  medi- 
cine and  law.  Did  you  see  how  straight  he 
had  his  story  until  I  began  to  question  him? 


THE  MYSTERY  OF  THE  GOVERNESS         51 

It.  was  thrai  that  the  contradictions  began. 
Do:  you  think  those  contradictions  and  those 
bldnk  spots  in  his  mind  would  have  appeared 
i£  my  eye' hadn't  held  him?  If  I  had  looked 
another  way,  or  if  a  lawyer  in  court  had  put 
the  questions,  those  gaps  would  have  been 
easily  and  logically  filled,  and  the  tale  as  straight  f 
as  a  string.  Even  that  part  about  the  door,  a 
curious  and  interesting  slip  of  the  mind,  yet 
seen  to  be  common  enough,  too,  when  analyzed, 
he  would  have  doctored  up  in  some  way." 

"But  that  time  card.  How  can  you  explain 
that?  Isn't  it  strange  that  nobody  has  thought 
of  examining  it  in  connection  with  his  con- 
fession?" 

"Not  at  all — so  far.  The  first  excitement' 
hasn't  worn  off  yet.  They  swallowed  everything 
he  said  without  question,  he  was  so  honest  about 
it,  and  because  he  came  of  his  own  accord 
to  tell  it  and  give  himself  up.  Later,  of  course, 
after  a  lot  of  prying  around,  the  defects  of  his 
logic  would  appear.  But  come — I  must  return 
to  the  telegraph  office." 

"But  the  watchman — shouldn't  he  be 
arrested " 

"NOy  no;  he's  safe.  Let  him  alone.  Only," 
he  added,  as  they  whirled  away,  "it  will  be 
a  good  exercise  for  you  to  think  his  case  over 
during  the  next  few  minutes,  appljdng  his 
character  and  temperament,  as  you  read  them, 
to  the  circumstances.  Perhaps  you  will  be 
able  to  get  a  little  light  on  those  strange 
antics  in  the  witness  box  that  occur  so  fre- 
quently." 


52      EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

At  the  telegraph  ofl5ce  he  received  a  mes- 
sage which  seemed  to  please  him,  and  which 
he  immediately  answered.  From  there  he 
drove  back  to  the  undertaker's,  and,  leaving 
word  that  the  body  should  be  put  in  condi- 
tion for  removal  within  two  hours,  headed 
for  the  Parker  mansion. 

"Doesn't  it  strike  you  as  singular,  Ger- 
rish,"  he  said,  as  they  rolled  smoothly  along, 
"that  Parker  should  have  disappeared  just 
now,  and  that  nobody  from  his  house  has 
called  to  view  the  remains?" 

Gerrish  threw  him  a  startled  glance. 

"Good  heavens,"  he  exclaimed.  "Another 
complication.  I  never  thought  of  that 
before." 

"Ah!  I  told  you,  you  know,  in  the  begin- 
ning, that  it  was  a  beautiful  case." 

"It  may  be  beautiful  according  to  your 
notion,"  returned  Gerrish  disgustedly,  "but 
it  strikes  me  quite  otherwise.  To  me  it  is 
grewsome  and  beastly — an  inextricable  snarl 
full  of  contradictions  and  impossibilities,  that 
never  in  the  world  can  be  disentangled." 

"Well,  yes,  it  is  grewsome  from  a  personal, 
or  even  human,  point  of  view.  But  in  order 
to  serve  out  justice  the  mystery  must  be 
regarded  in  a  spirit  of  pure  science,  as  a  prob- 
lem in  astromony  or  law.  I  can't  afford  to 
entertain  the  sympathetic  side  until  justice 
is  done,  for  it  would  warp  and  bias  my  judg- 
ment, so  leading  to  injustice.  As  for  its  being 
inextricable,  so  is  the  mystery  of  the  parallax 
of  a  star,  I  suppose,  but  to  whom?" 


THE  MYSTERY  OF  THE  GOVERNESS         53 

"Well,  of  course,  to  the  ignorant,"  responded 
Gerrish,  somewhat  sheepishly.  "Still,"  he 
added,  "that  sort  of  thing  can  be  learned, 
while  this  seems  to  me  all  guesswork." 

"Oh,  does  it?  My  dear  fellow,  the  rules 
of  crime  are  as  lucid  and  yet  rigid  as  those  of 
mathematics.  The  expert  has  only  to  learn 
the  facts  and  then  apply  the  rule.  Of  course, 
the  difficulty  lies  in  getting  the  true  facts, 
and  all  of  them.  It  is  especially  hard  to  glean 
the  truth  from  witnesses,  for  the  human  mind 
is  so  constituted  that  a  man  rarely  tells  a  story 
twice  in  just  the  same  way,  however  honestly 
he  may  try,  unless  he  has  committed  it  care- 
fully to  memory.  And  those  who  do  that, 
those  who  tell  the  straightest  tale,  are  pre- 
cisely those  we  should  suspect.  For  plain 
truth  does  not  think  of  preparation,  and  may, 
therefore,  often  be  easily  disconcerted,  while 
falsehood  stands  seemingly  invulnerable.  But 
there  are  rules,  rules!  And  I  know  them. 
I  am  applying  them  now.  And  when  this 
problem  is  solved  you  will  see  the  beauty 
of  it  as  I  do." 

"Hold  up!"  cried  Gerrish  at  this  moment. 
"Here's  where  the  body  was  found,  right 
there,  on  the  edge,  in  shallow  water." 

"That's  nothing,"  returned  Fumivall,  not 
even  turning  his  head. 

"Nothing!  Why,  the  police  and  the  other 
detectives  rushed  out  here  the  first  thing!" 

"I'm  this  detective,"  said  Furnivall,  with 
a  grimness  that  passed  into  a  smile  as  his 
companion  looked  his  astonishment. 


54      EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

"There's  another  thing  I  can't  understand," 
said  Gerrish,  after  a  moment  of  silence.  "From 
start  to  finish  you  have  scarcely  mentioned 
this  other  man,  this  John,  when,  as  it  seems 
to  me " 

"I'll  introduce  you  to  him  this  evening," 
was  the  quick  response. 

Dr.  Gerrish  was  still  floundering  helplessly 
in  the  midst  of  this  amazing  idea  when  the 
car  stopped  at  the  Parker  mansion. 

The  two  physicians  sent  in  their  cards, 
and  after  some  minutes  of  waiting  on  their 
part  in  the  drawing-room,  Mrs.  Parker 
appeared.  She  was  a  woman  of  28  or  30, 
with  flashing  black  eyes,  muddy  skin,  thin, 
uncurving  lips,  an  angular  form  that  was  too 
plainly  padded,  and  a  peremptory  manner. 
She  was,  however,  very  gradous  in  her  greet- 
ing to  her  victors. 

"So  glad  to  see  you,  Dr.  Furnivall,"  she 
said.  "Such  a  pleasant  surprise.  And  Dr. 
Gerrish,  too!  Please  be  seated,  gentlemen. 
I  trust,"  she  added,  turning  to  Dr.  Gerriah, 
there  is  nothing  more  about  that-^that  per- 
son regarding  whom  you  ^sailed  yesterday. 
It. has, all  been  extremely  annoying  to  us " 

"Only,"  said  Dr.  Eunuvall,  "to  ask  her 
character,  and  whether  she  left  -  of  -her  own 
accord  or  was  discharged?" 

"I  discharged  her!"  exclaimed  the  lady 
quickly,  ..and  'witii  spontaneous  heat.  Then 
her  eyes,  flashing  into  Dr.  Furnivall's,  hesi- 
tated, wavered,  became  fixed  there,  a  slight 
color  warmed  her  cheeks,  and  .  she  •  continued 


THE  MYSTERY  OF  THE  GOVERNESS         $5 

evenly:  "I  should  have  discharged  her  in 
the  morning  if  she  had  not  left,  for  I  simply 
could  not  endure  it  longer.  I  am  sorry  she 
took  her  life,  of  course.  I  do  not  find  any 
fault  with  the  girl,  really,  for  she  could  not 
help  being  beautiful,  but  Philip " 

"I  think  that  is  suflScient,"  Dr.  Furnivall 
interrupted  hastily,  rising.  "Jove!"  he  added 
to  Gerrish  as  they  re-entered  the  auto,  *fl 
couldn't  let  her  go  into  details  of  that  nature. 
Besides,  it  was  enough.  Now,  one  more 
point,  only  one,  and  the  thing  is  settled.  Oh, 
but  it's  beautiful,  beautiful!" 

"Yes,  just  like  clockwork,  isn't  it?"  said 
Gerrish  with  sarcasm.  "For  my  part,  I  can't 
see  but  the  whole  matter  is  more  hopelessly 
involved  than  ever.  How  did  you  know  the 
girl's  connection  with  the  Parkers  was  severed  ?" 

"Mrs.  Parker  told  me,"  returned  Fumi- 
vall  with  a  chuckle. 

"Um-ml"  Dr.  Gerrish  looked  meek.  He 
thought  he  really  might  have  guessed  out 
that  part  of  the  riddle  without  help.  Then, 
the  next  moment,  his  face  became  illumina- 
ted with  intelligence.  It  actually  beamed 
as  he  turned  it  on  his  friend  and  ex- 
daimed: 

"J.  PMlip  Parker  was  the  'John'  of  the 
diary— he  is  missing — ^it  was  he  who — who — 

when  he  found  that  Percy " 

(His  voice  trailed  off  and  died  away  as  the 
objections  to  this  theory  suddenly  struck  him. 
Besides,  Fumivall  was  roaring  with  heartfelt 
laughter. 


i6     EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

"My  dear  Gerrish,"  said  his  friend  when 
he  had  controlled  his  mirth  sufficiently  to 
speak,  "I  always  liked  you  from  the  first  time 
I  saw  you,  but  now  I'm  beginning  fairly  to 
love  you.  You  are  so  irreproachably  inno- 
cent and  ingenuous!  It's  a  fortunate  thing 
this  young  protege  of  yours  is  not  abandoned 
to  your  tender  mercies,  for  you'd  have  him 
in  jail  before  morning  though  he  was  as  inno- 
cent as  the  Great  Mogul  himself.  Medicine, 
plain  and  unadulterated  medicine,  is  your 
line,  where  the  paths  of  science  are  straight 
and  pure,  and  in  which  you  have  already 
covered  yourself  with  glory.  Don't  risk  igno- 
miny by  scattering  your  talents.  Medicine — ■ 
stick  to  pure  medicine,  my  boy.  Take  my 
advice." 

"I  most  certainly  intend  to  do  so  here- 
after," he  returned  with  a  good  humored 
laugh.  "What  I  can't  comprehend  is  how 
you  yourself  can  stomach  this  kind  of 
thing." 

"Oh,  I'm  a  sort  of  Apollo,  merely  glancing 
at  the  mist  rising  from  the  River  Styx,  and 
thereby  changing  it  into  a  beautiful  rainbow," 
returned  Dr.  Furnivall  lightly. 

He  stopped  at  the  telegraph  office  again  as 
he  spoke,  ran  in,  and  Dr.  Gerrish  saw  through 
the  window  that  he  received  a  large  package 
of  messages  which  he  began  to  open  eagerly. 
At  the  seventh  he  stopped  reading,  threw  the 
others  unopened  into  a  waste  basket,  con- 
sulted his  watch,  and,  hastily  re-entering  the 
car,  started  it  at  speed  toward  the  city. 


THE  MYSTERY  OF  THE  GOVERNESS         57 

"Another  complication?"  suggested  Dr. 
Gerrish,  not  knowing  what  to  make  of  his 
companion's  manner,  which,  from  the  signs, 
might  have  been  anything  from  anxiety  to 
amazement,  or  even  suppressed  jubilation. 

"You'll  think-  so  when  you  see  it,"  was 
all  he  could  answer. 

In  ten  minutes,  to  Dr.  Gerrish's  surprise, 
they  drew  up  at  his  own  door.  Dr.  Furnivall 
made  no  movement  to  alight,  however,  but 
again  looked  at  his  watch  and  threw  a  quick 
glance  down  the  street.  Then  he  sat  back 
in  his  seat,  lit  a  cigar,  and  took  his  ease. 

Dr.  Gerrish  said  nothing,  for  his  eyes  were 
on  a  hack  the  driver  of  which  was  lashing  his 
team  as  if  he  had  been  paid  to  hurry,  and  it 
seemed  as  if  he  were  about  to  crash  right  over 
the  automobile.  The  next  instant  the  horses 
were  thrown  on  their  haunches,  with  their 
noses  almost  touching  the  machine;  the  driver 
jumped  down,  wrested  the  hack  door  open, 
and  a  man  and  woman  emerged,  making 
hastily  for  the  entrance  to  the  young  physi- 
cian's office.  He  then  gave  one  look  and 
sprang  erect  as  if  electrified. 

"Good  heavens — Percy!"  he  cried. 

"And  Mrs.  Percival  Warner,"  suavely  said 
Dr.  Furnivall,  "formerly  Miss  Blanche  Good- 
win. Do  you  see  the  beauty  of  the  solution 
now?"  he  added,  with  a  droll  cast  of  the  eye. 
*    *    *    * 

"The  moment  I  read  of  the  afifair  in  the 
papers,"  said  Dr.  Furnivall  to  his  delighted 
friend    that   evening   in    the    speaker's    study, 


S8      EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

"I  suspected  accident  despite  the  watchman's 
^tory.  My  theory  was  based  on  Warner's 
character  as  you  had  found  it  to  be.  I  thought 
as  others  did,  that  the  girl,  dazzled  by  those 
lanterns  along  the  road,  might  have  missed 
her  way  and  fallen  in,  and  that  Warner,  fail- 
ing to  find  her  at  the  try  sting  place,  and  led 
astray  for  some  reason  known  to  himself, 
was  searching  for  her  out  of  town,  which 
would  explain  his  absence. 

"The  watchman,  as  surely  as  Warner's 
character  was  what  you  believed,  was  subject 
to  neuropathic  hysteria, .  and  after  dwelling  a 
whole  day  on  the  subject  had  imagined  that 
scene.  We  have  many  such  cases  on  record. 
It  {proved  that  I  was  right.  His  hysteria, 
aggravated  by  the  crime  so  near  by,  the  lone- 
liness of  his  occupation,  his  knowing  the  girl, 
too,  as  he  thought,  and  perhaps  a  tinge  of 
that  love  for  notoriety  we  see  everywhere — 
through  all  this  he  had  conjured  up  that  vis- 
ion and  seen  it  so  frequently  in  his  mind  that 
he  fully  believed  it.  In  his  confession  he 
stated  the  truth  as  he  saw  it.  It  was  only 
under  my  influence  :and  through  my  examina- 
tion that  the  contradictions  and  gaps  showed, 
for  Jie  was  unprepared  for  the  questions  and 
could  tell  only  what  was  in.  his  mind.  Many 
a .  man  with  his  trouble  has  shown  up  as  a 
rascal  on  the  witness  stand,  and  in  private 
life,  too,  when  he  was  only  diseased.  So 
much,  for  him. 

"Then,  when  you  informed  me  of  the  diary, 
and  showed  it  to  me,  I  believed .  I  recognized 


THE  MYSTERY  OF  THE  GOVERNESS         S9 

another  phase  of  hysteria  in  its  glowipg,  often 
incoherent,  pages,  and  thought  of  suicide, 
because, ,  never  dreaming  that ;  the  .4Dody  was 
not  hers,  I  could  explain  the  facts  in  no  other 
way.  You  recall  the  Pledgett  case,  in  which 
the  woman  kept  a  diary  for  a  -whole  .  year, 
detailing  a  love  aflFair,  just  as  in  this  instance, 
and  there  wasn't  a  word  of  objective  truth 
in  it.  .  I  reasoned  that  Miss  Goodwin,  with 
her  mind  excited  by  the  hallucinations  of  iter 
disease,  subject  as  she  must  be  to  fits  of  deep 
melancholia,  had  jumped  into  the  river.  But 
as  soon  as  I  viewed  the  body  and  those  clothes 
— why,  man  alive,  where  were  your  eyes? 
The  face  might  possibly  have  passed  for  that 
of  a  fairly  intelligent  woman,  but  not  a  culti- 
vated one.  Certainly  she  never  could  have 
been  the  governess  of  Philip  Parker's  children. 

"I  had,  too,  a  dim  recollection  of  a  house- 
maid who  was  missing,  according  to  the  papers, 
and,  as  I  recalled  the  description,  it  seemed 
to.  fit.  Tiie  clothing  settled  the  question.  No 
woman  who  was  sufficiently  cultured  to  be 
your,  friend's  sweetheart,  or  a  governess  either, 
CQuld  dress  so  tastelessly.  I  knew  it  was  the 
lost  maid,  doubtless  a  suicide,  from  the. fact 
that  Jier  jiame  had  been  cut  from  Jier .gar- 
ments, so  I  telegraphed  the  police  and,  received 
word  that  she  would  be  called  for  by  her 
brother. 

"The  groceryman  who,  you  remember, 
was  the  first  to  identify  the  body,  had  gone  to 
the  Parker  place  for  his  morning  order,  with- 
out doubt  learned  that  the  :govemess  had  fled, 


6o      EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

and  then,  of  course,  the  rest  was  natural  and 
inevitable.  Any  body  found  near  there  would 
be  that  of  Miss  Goodwin  if  it  bore  even  a 
remote  resemblance  to  her;  and  the  mob, 
expecting  to  see  Miss  Goodwin,  when  they 
looked  at  the  body,  simply  saw  her.  That  is 
human.  It  isn't  likely  that  she  was  well 
known  by  any  of  them,  and  a  body  lying  dead 
and  nearly  naked  on  a  slab  isn't  expected  to 
resemble  very  closely  the  same  body  alive, 
erect,  and  fashionably  attired.  The  identi- 
fication of  a  corpse  even  by  intimate  friends 
is  often  a  very  difficult  matter. 

"In  the  meantime  my  theory!  It  was 
annihilated.  Though  Miss  Goodwin  was  not 
dead,  as  far  as  we  knew,  she  was  missing, 
and  Warner's  case  was  not  much  improved. 
I  had  to  begin  all  over  again.  Where  was  she? 
There  seemed  to  be  only  one  answer.  Since 
her  lover  also  was  absent  she  probably  was 
with  him.  If  with  him,  then  married  to  him. 
They  had  for  some  cause  slipped  away  sud- 
denly to  be  married.  Where  would  they  natu- 
rally go  for  the  purpose  ?  To  the  home  of  one 
of  her  relatives.  These,  according  to  the  news- 
paper, were  many.  I  telegraphed  them  all, 
for  I  had  tre  paper  with  their  addresses  in 
my  pocket. 

"But  why  should  they  disappear  so  sud- 
denly? Logically,  because  something  had 
happened  either  to  him  or  her.  The  chances 
were  that  it  was  to  her,  for  the  Parkers  had 
not  called  at  the  undertaker's — a  curious 
fact — and  Parker  himself  had  suddenly  gone 


THE  MYSTERY  OF  THE  GOVERNESS         6l 

away.  While  we  were  waiting  for  the  answers 
to  my  telegrams  we  could  visit  the  girl's 
employers. 

"We  did,  and  in  ten  seconds  learned  what 
we  wished  to  know.  Philip  Parker  preferred 
the  beautiful  governess  to  his  ugly  wife,  had 
made  advances  to  her,  which  for  some  time 
had  grown  more  and  more  marked,  attract- 
ing the  notice  of  Mrs.  Parker,  until  on  that 
evening  he  had  gone  too  far,  she  could  endure 
it  no  longer,  had  fled  hastily,  leaving  all  her 
things  behind,  told  Percy,  and  then,  she  being 
homeless,  there  was  but  one  thing  to  do,  and 
they  did  it.  The  next  evening  they  saw  in 
the  papers  that  he  was  being  searched  for, 
and  were  already  on  their  way  to  your  house, 
by  the  8:io  train,  when  my  telegram 
reached  the  cousin  at  whose  home  they  were 
married. 

"On  my  receipt  of  this  news  we  had  just 
time  enough  to  meet  them  at  your  door.  As 
for  the  diary — look  here." 

It  was  still  lying  on  the  table,  where  he 
had  thrown  it  that  morning,  and,  opening  it, 
he  pointed  to  several  phrases,  one  under 
another,  on  the  margin  of  the  first  part.  A 
pen  line  had  been  drawn  through  all  but  the 
lower  of  them,  which  was,  "Love's  Depths," 
and  this  remained  unscratched. 

"She  has  evolved  a  novel — in  the  first  per- 
son," he  grinned.  "And  this  is  the  rough 
draft  of  it,  with  Percival,  under  the  pseu- 
donym of  'John,'  for  the  hero.  She  had  the 
usual  difficulty  in  choosing  a  suitable  name 


6a      EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECI IVE 


for  it,. and  finally  hit  upon  'Love's  Depths.' 
Is  everything  plain  now  ?" 

Dr.   Gerrish    screwed  up   his   lips,  lighting, 
a  fresh  cigar,  \. 

"All    but   one   little   item,"   he  answered, 
puffing. 

"What's  that?"-  \ 

"I  am  wondering  what  whl  happen  to 
Philip,  Parker  when  Percy  finds  him." 

"Not   much  doubt   about   that   either,, in. 
my:  mind,"   responded   Dr.   FumivalL 


/ 


/ 


/ 


/ 


THE  TIN  BOX 

The  chief  of  the  Centreville  police  raised 
his  head  in  astonishment.  Just  at  the  moment 
when  he  had  settled  down  in  his  chair  for  a 
morning  nap  the  door  of  the  little  office  swung 
open  with  a  crash  and  a  great  hulk  of  a  man 
staggered  in,  collapsing  on  the  settee. 

The  intruder's  hands  were  pressed  to  his 
sides,  the  breath  whistled  in  his  throat,  his 
face  burned  a  violent  red  through  a  heavy 
dark  beard,  and,  leaning  with  one  shoulder 
hunched  against  the  back  of  the  settee,  head 
hanging,  mouth  dropping,  he  presented  alarm- 
ing signs  of  physical  exhaustion. 

"Hi — hi  there,  Bill!"  cried  the  chief,  recog- 
nizing him  at  once.     "What's  th*  matter?" 

"Ma-matter!  Ma-matter  enough!  It's 
murder!"  gasped  Bill. 

"What!" 

The  dreadful  word  scared  the  officer  into 
activity  as  if  it  had  been  a  bodily  danger.  He 
darted  around  the  railing  which  inclosed  his 
desk  and  shook  the  big  man,  raising  his  chin 
roughly  and  staring  into  his  face. 

"It's  old  woman  Snowman — and  Ed,  too. 
Both  on  'em,"  the  man  gasped,  recovering  a 
little  breath.     "I  run  all  th'  way." 

The  officer  blinked  his  eyes  rapidly,  as  if 
trying  his  best  to  concentrate  his  faculties. 
It  plainly  was  a  difficult  task.     Out  of  the 


66     EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

chaos  in  his  mind  only  one  thought,  as  being 
related  to  familiar  things,  evolved  itself,  and 
he  asked  pertinently: 

"Why  didn't  ye  harness  up  and  ride,  Bill?" 

"Harness  up!"  exclaimed  Bill.  "Why, 
goshamitey,  Hezekiah,  I  didn't  have  no  time. 
I  had  t'  git  here!" 

If  Bill's  notions  of  time-saving  on  a  two- 
mile  journey  struck  the  chief  as  peculiar, 
he  gave  no  sign  of  the  fact.  The  word  har- 
ness had  suggested  the  first  step  in  his  mode 
of  procedure,  and  in  great  excitement  he 
rushed  to  the  stable  and  hitched  up  his  own 
rig.  All  of  the  four  members  of  his  staff 
were  away  on  their  beats,  so  that  a  legitimate 
substitute  to  leave  in  charge  of  the  police 
station  was  lacking,  but  that  was  no  obstacle 
to  the  chief.  He  cried  out  to  his  only  prisoner, 
a  vagrant,  who  could  be  seen  behind  the  bars 
in  an  inner  room: 

"Hi,  you!  If  anybuddy  calls  tell  'em  I'm 
over  t'  old  woman  Snowman's!"  And  the 
next  moment,  with  the  reanimated  Bill  beside 
him,  he  was  rattling  along  the  dusty  road 
into  the  country  toward  Spuzz's  hill.  Then, 
invigorated  in  body  and  somewhat  brightened 
in  mind  by  the  sunlight  and  fresh  air  of  a  clear 
autumn  morning,  he  began  to  question  his 
companion  about  the  facts  of  the  case  as  far 
as  he  knew  them.  These  were  few,  but  to 
the  point,  and,  divested  of  Bill's  peculiarities 
of  narration   and   speech,   were   as   follows: 

Mrs.  Snowman,  an  aged  widow,  who  was 
considered   as    wealthy    as   she   was    miserly, 


THE  TIN  BOX  67 

and  her  bachelor  son,  Edward,  lived  in  a  little 
house  on  their  extensive  farm  on  Spuzz's  hill. 
With  them  stayed  a  .middle  aged  woman, 
Susan,  a  distant  connection,  who  worked 
around  the  place  for  her  board.  This  woman, 
who  was  looked  upon  as  somewhat  soft  in 
the  head,  and  seemed  of  a  mild  and  colorless 
disposition,  had  come  running  in  her  night 
gown  that  morning  at  daybreak  to  the  nearest 
neighbor,  a  Mr.  Henshaw,  who  was  the  nar- 
rator's father,  and  with  an  appearance  of 
great  fright  declared  that  Mrs.  Snowman  and 
her  son  had  been  murdered.  She  said  that 
she  slept  in  the  same  room  with  her  mistress; 
that  hearing  her  scream  suddenly  in  the  night 
she  jumped  up,  and,  seeing  a  big  man  strik- 
ing her  with  a  club  as  she  lay  in  bed,  ran  from 
the  house  and  hid  in  the  yard.  In  about  five 
minutes  the  door  opened  and  two  men  came 
hurrying  out  and  went  toward  the  woods. 
One  was  a  very  large  man,  the  other  rather 
small.  That  was  all  the  description  she  could 
give  of  them,  for,  although  there  was  a  candle 
burning  in  the  kitchen,  where  the  son  slept, 
its  rays  were  dim,  and  when  the  two  men 
came  out  the  morning  was  only  just  breaking 
and  their  features  were  invisible  to  her  in  the 
uncertain  light.  Not  daring  to  venture  back 
to  the  house  she  had  finally  decided  to  arouse 
the  Henshaws,  a  quarter  of  a  mile  away. 

By  the  time  the  story  was  finished  they  had 
arrived  at  the  scene  of  the  tragedy.  Eight  or 
ten  neighbors  were  already  there,  and  the 
chief,  springing  to  the  ground,  made  his  way 


68      EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

through  them  with  dignity  and  entered  at 
the  door.  The  case  called  for  tactics  entirely 
new  in  his  experience.  He  had  not  the  least 
notion  of  the  proper  course  to  take,  but  he 
was  a  man  of  great  confidence  of  manner, 
and  as  he  stood  on  the  threshold  surveying 
the  grewsome  spectacle  he  seemed  to  the 
eager  watchers  to  be  perfect  master  of  the 
situation.  The  lines  of  wisdom  and  command 
in  his  face  were  much  more  plainly  marked 
than  they  are  in  the  countenances  of  Alexan- 
der and  Caesar  as  they  have  come  down  to 
us  on  medals  and  statues.  Stepping  in  and 
closing  the  door  behind  him,  he  said  to  the 
elder  Henshaw,  a  little  old  man  with  a  bushy 
white  beard,  who  stood  frightened  and  help- 
less in  the  middle  of  the  floor: 

"Put  out  that  candle!  We  don't  need 
candles  now;  it's  daylight." 

Whereupon  the  light  was  extinguished  and 
it  became  dark  as  night  in  the  room,  owing 
to  the  fact  that  there  were  shutters  on  the 
windows,  which  seemed  to  be  nailed  up  and 
could  not  be  opened. 

"Wall,  why  didn't  ye  say  so  afore  ye  blowed 
the  candle  out?"  said  the  chief  magisterially, 
when  he  learned  this.  "Light  her  up  again. 
Now,  le's  see  what  all  this  is  about." 

The  kitchen  contained  a  cot  bed,  and  on 
this  was  huddled  the  body  of  the  son,  fright- 
fully bruised  about  the  head.  The  bedding 
was  twisted,  torn  and  stained  with  blood, 
part  of  it  on  the  floor,  and  one  of  the  two  pil- 
lows hung  over  the  edge  of  the  sink  ten  feet 


THE  TIN  BOX  69 

distant.  Opening  out  of  the  kitchen  was  a 
door  into  another  room,  and  in  this  the  mother 
lay,  also  in  bed  and  battered  in  the  same  dread- 
ful manner.  The  bed  was  so  nearly  the  width 
of  the  room  that  there  was  scarcely  space 
enough  in  which  to  walk  between  it  and  the 
wall,  but  there  seemed  to  be  a  considerable 
vacant  area  at  one  end,  beyond  the  high  head- 
board. Candle  in  hand,  the  chief  advanced 
and  found  another  cot  bed  on  the  floor,  and  in 
a  corner  a  small  bureau. 

He  stood  a  moment  regarding  the  scene 
speculatively.  Then  he  looked  toward  the 
elder  Henshaw,  who  was  peering  timidly 
through  the  doorway. 

"  Whereabouts' d  Susan  say  she  wuz  when 
she  see  him  clubbin'  her?"  he  asked  in  a 
whisper. 

"Why,  she  wuz  riz  up  in  bed,"  responded 
the  old  man,  edging  back  from  too  close  prox- 
imity to  the  ghastly  body. 

"If  she  wuz  in  there,"  pointing,  "how  in 
natur'  could  she  git  by  him  a-standin'  here?" 
demanded  the  chief.  "She  couldn't  climb  up 
over  that  there  headboard,  leastwise  I  never 
see  a  woman  yit  that  could  climb  like  that. 
An'  even  if  she  hed  she'd  a  flopped  down  on 
the  bed  right  plumb  in  front  of  him,  an'  he'd 
a*  hed  her  sure.  She  couldn't  git  by  him, 
for  th'  ain't  room  enough.  Look  at  here, 
Henry.  I  take  up  the  whole  width.  Could 
anybody  git  by  me  now?" 

"No,  they  couldn't.  An*  I  told  Susan  so, 
too.     But    she    says    he   leaned    over    on    the 


TO      EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

bed  when  he  seen  her  comin'  an*  let  her  scoot 
out." 

"Now,  Henry,  that  don't  stand  t'  reason," 
exclaimed  the  chief,  turning  on  him  sud- 
denly. He  stood  a  moment  shaking  his  head 
dubiously,  and  then  continued:  "There's 
somethin'  almighty  cur'ous  about  this  any- 
ways. So  near's  I  can  make  out  the'  ain't 
been  nary  a  thing  stole  from  this  house,  an' 
it's  mighty  strange " 

"No,  th'  ain't!"  interrupted  the  old  man, 
eagerly.  "Everything's  here  jest 's  'twuz  afore. 
Why,  there's  Ed's  watch  an'  chain  that  cost 
his  father  a  clean  hund'ud  dollars " 

"Where?" 

The  chief  started  back  into  the  kitchen. 
The  dead  man's  clothes  hung  over  a  chair, 
and  there  in  plain  sight  dangled  a  valuable 
gold  chain  and  charm  from  the  vest.  In  the 
pocket  the  chief  found  the  heavy  gold  watch. 
But  this  was  not  all.  A  quick  search  dis- 
closed several  dollars:  m  silver  in  the  trousers 
and  in  the  coat  a  long  pocketbook  containing 
a  considerable  sum  in  bank  bills. 

The  appearance  of  wisdom  deepened  on 
the  chief  of  police's  face  as  he  eyed  these  dis- 
coveries. He  did  not,  however,  communi- 
cate to  the  old  man  the  elucidation  of  the  mys- 
tery which,  to  judge  by  his  expression,  was 
so  plain  to  himself.  He  merely  began  to  tie 
up  the  various  valuable  articles  in  his  hand- 
kerchief. In  this  occupation  he  was  inter- 
rupted by  a  timid  knock  at  the  door. 

"Come  in,"  he  called  sharply,  looking  up. 


THE  TIN  BOX  71 

A  woman,  one  of  the  neighbors,  advanced 
hesitatingly  toward  him,  holding  a  small  tin 
box  in  her  outstretched  hand. 

"Wal,  what  is  it?"  he  asked,  glancing  at 
the  box  impatiently. 

"This  is  what  she  used  to  keep  her  will 
in,"  said  the  woman,  offering  it.  "And  I 
found  it  out  by  our  house,  in  the  path  that 
leads  down  to  the  woods,  and  there  was 
these  pieces  of  burnt  paper  there,  too,  and  I 
thought " 

"How  do  you  know  she  kept  her  will  in 
it?"  he  asked,  taking  it  and  turning  over  the 
bits  of  paper  in  his  hands. 

"She  told  me  so.  And  I've  seen  it  often, 
too.  It  used  to  stand  right  there  on  the  bureau 
behind  her  bed.  See,  her  name  is  scratched 
on  it  with  a  pin  or  something." 

The  chief  stood  in  profound  thought,  his 
chin  in  one  hand  and  the  box  in  the  other, 
the  handkerchief  bundle  on  the  floor  between 
his  feet. 

"Ahl"  he  exclaimed  suddenly.  "That's 
it!  It  wasn't  done  for  robbery,  not  to  get 
money  that  way.  They  left  all  the  money 
behind  and  took  the  will  and  then  burnt  it 
up.  Now  the  question  is.  Who  is  her  heirs? 
Who  gits  her  proppurty  now  the  will  is  gone  ? 
Them  is  the  ones  that  done  it." 

"That's  so,  that's  so,"  cried  the  old  man, 
excitedly.     "It's  plain  as  the  pike  road.    And 

it's  them  two  scallawags  in "    He  stopped 

suddenly,  his  mouth  hung  open,  and  he  shifted 
uneasily  on  his  feet. 


7a     EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

"Why  don't  ye  go  on,  man?"  said  the 
chief,  sharply.  "Do  you  know  'em?  Or  what 
was  you  goin*  to  say?" 

"She's  only  left  three  relations,"  answered 
the  old  man,  "and  two  of  'em's  in  the  city, 
Willum  Henry's  boys,  drinkin',  shif'less  crit- 
ters they  be,  and  she  wouldn't  have  nothin' 
to  do  with  'em.  And  t'other  one  is — is — wal, 
she's  Susan." 

The  reluctance  with  which  the  old  man 
offered  the  latter  part  of  this  statement  was 
fully  equaled  by  the  alacrity  with  which  the 
chief  received  it.  All  was  plain  to  him  now. 
He  allowed  himself  a  grim  flicker  of  a  smile 
as  he  thought  of  the  weakness  of  that  eva- 
sion, when,  confronted  by  the  indisputable 
fact  that  a  person  could  not  pass  another  in 
that  narrow  space,  she  had  foolishly  claimed 
that  the  man  leaned  over  on  the  bed  to  let 
her  by.  A  curious  sort  of  murderer  that  would 
be,  thought  the  elated  chief.  Even  if  he 
hadn't  wanted  to  put  her  altogether  out  of 
the  way  he  would  have  grabbed  and  bound 
and  gagged  her,  to  prevent  her  from  escaping 
and  giving  the  alarm.  And  then,  after  she 
had  escaped,  as  she  claimed,  the  criminals 
had  stayed  on  in  the  house  five  minutes  longer  I 
A  likely  story,  with  her  running  to  have  them 
nabbed!  The  truth  plainly  was  that,  if  two 
men  had  anything  to  do  with  it,  they  were 
the  nephews  from  the  city,  and  she  was  their 
accomplice.  It  was  still  more  probable  that 
she  herself  had  done  the  deed  and  alone.  She 
had  had  every  opportunity,  was   one  of    the 


THE  TIN  BOX  73 

heirs,  and  had  lied  about  the  facts.     Besides, 
she  .was  half-crazy. 

Therefore,  within  ten  minutes  he  was  on 
his  way  to  the  police  station  with  his  prisoner, 
Susan  Clemmons,  a  charge  of  willful  murder 
against  whom  he  was  laboriously  formulating 
in  his  mind.  It  is  true  that  he  had  neglected 
to  summon  a  physician  to  view  the  remains  and 
find  whether  or  not  the  persons  she  was 
accused  of  murdering  were  dead. 
*    *    *    * 

Dr.  Furnivall  answered  "Enter"  to  a  tap 
at  his  office  door,  and  a  young  man  appeared 
on  the  threshold. 

"I  have  not  come  to  consult  you,  doctor,"  he 
said,  advancing  with  hesitating  step.  "  The  truth 
is,  I  hardly  know — how  to — to  state  my  errand." 
.  He  stood  nervously  eyeing  the  doctor. 
Perhaps  24  years  of  age,  he  was  of  good  appear- 
ance, with  large  black  eyes  and  thick,  dark 
hair,  tall  and  slim  of  build,  and  well  balanced 
on  his  feet.  His  clothes  were  fashionable 
and  immaculate.  He  took  the  chair  to  which 
Dr.  Furnivall  motioned  him,  and  continued 
with  somewhat  more  confidence 

"One  of  my  chums  who  is  studying  medi- 
cine has  told  me  of  your  remarkable  hypnotic 
powers,  which,  I  am  given  to  understand, 
have  more  than  once  been  employed  in  the 
detection  of  criminals  who  were  about  to 
escape,  leaving  the  innocent  to  suffer.  Now, 
a  very  old  and  highly  valued  friend  of  mine 
is  suffering  unjustly,  accused  of  a  crime  which 
she  was  as  unable  morally  to  commit  as  I  am 


74      EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

physically  to  carry  this  house  away  on  my 
shoulders.  And  if  money — I — I  shall  have 
a  great  deal  by  and  by,  though  now " 

"Wouldn't  it  tw  weU  for  you  to  introduce 
yourself,  since  we  are  going  into  a  matter  of 
such  intimate  interest  ?" 

"Oh,  pardon!  I  forgot — let  me  give  you 
my  card," 

He  produced  a  modest  bit  of  engraved 
pasteboard,  which  the  doctor  examined. 

"Now  tell  me  the  story,  Mr.  Sewell,"  he 
said.  He  reclined  in  his  chair  and  disposed 
himself  to  listen  comfortably  behind  the  thick 
colored  glasses. 

"It  is  very  good  of  you,  Dr.  Furnivall,  to 
accept  the  case  so  generously.  I  wish  to 
speak  of  the  crime  yesterday  in  Centreville. 
Perhaps  you  have  read  the  newspaper  stones 
regarding  it?" 

"Yes." 

"Then  I  have  little  to  add  to  them,  except 
that  the  woman  is  entirely  guiltless,  and  the 
two  nephews,  for  whom  they  are  searching, 
as  weH.  But  the  police  in  that  little  last  cen- 
tury town  are  hopeless  imbeciles,  and  as  some- 
body must  be  caught,  and  they've  caught 
somebody,  they  will  listen  to  no  other  view 
of  the  matter." 

"Are  these  nephews  the  young  toughs  they 
are  described  as  being?" 

The  visitor  smiled  deprecatingly. 

"Nobody  could  be  further  from  it.  Their 
reputation  was  given  them  by  their  aimt. 
Of  course,"  he  continued,  with  another  move- 


THE  TIN  BOX  fS 

ment  of  deprecation,  "one  doesn't  like  to 
make  charges  in  such  a  case.  But  the  truth 
is  their  father  left  all  his  money  to  her  in  trust 
for  his  twin  sons — she  was  quite  a  different 
woman  in  her  younger  days — and  one  night, 
when  they  visited  her  with  the  smell  of  wine 
on  their  breath,  coming  straight  from  their 
dass  supper,  she  was  horrified — or  pretended 
to  be.^  Sbffi  never  sent  them  a  dollar  after- 
ward, and  gave  dissipation  as  the  reason. 
They  didn't  know  this  at  the  time,  for  Susan, 
this  woman  they  have  arrested,  kept  up  the 
remittances  in  the  aunt's  name — kept  them 
up  until  all  she  had  was  gone,  all  she  had 
saved  and  ail  she  had  inherited.  Then  they 
found  out,  for  their  college  course  was  not 
completed,  and  after  writing  and  writing  for 
money  in  vain  one  of  them  went  home  and 
soon  learned  the  true  state  of  affairs."  A 
choke  came  into  the  speaker's  voice  and  he 
paused.  Then,  with  flushed  face,  he  went  on 
energetically:  "I'll  save  that  blessed  woman 
if  it  is  in  the  power  of  man  to  do  it.  Why, 
^e  was  only  second  cousin  to  them,  and  she 
gave  them  her  all.  And  it  left  her  a  pauper. 
See  the  life  she  was  obliged  to  live  with  those 
skinflints  on  account  of  it  I  And  there  never 
was  a  word  of  complaint  from  her,  nor  any- 
thing but  gladness  for  doing  it." 

"They  never  took  the  case  to  court?" 
"No,  sir;  they  have  not  done  so  yet." 
"Have    you    seen    the    house — the    rooms 
where  the  crimes  were  committed?" 
"Yes,  doctor." 


76     EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

"Is  it  true  what  is  said  about  that  passage- 
way between  the  bed  and  the  wall?  Is  it  so 
narrow?" 

"Ah I"  cried  the  young  man,  shaking  his 
head.  "There's  where  the  rub  comes.  She 
stoutly  maintains  that  her  story  is  true.  She 
fled  past  the  murderer,  and  he,  in  order  to 
give  her  exit,  bent  over  on  the  bed.  It  seems 
impossible.  But  she  doesn't  know  how  to 
lie,  and  if  she  is  in  her  right  mind,  and  didn't 
imagine  that  part,  I  must  believe  her." 

"  How  do  you  account  for  the  facts  that  so 
many  valuables  were  left  untouched,  and  only 
the  will  was  taken  and  then  burned  up?" 

The  visitor  threw  out  his  hands. 

"It  is  the  mystery  of  mysteries  1"  he  almost 
groaned.  "I  don't  pretend  to  explain  it  in 
the  least.  One  thing  only  I  am  sure  of,  and 
it  is  that  the  deed  was  never  done  by  any  of 
those  who  would  benefit  under  the  law  by 
destroying  the  will." 

Dr.  Furnivall  removed  his  spectacles  and 
looked  the  young  man  in  the  eye. 

"Mr.  Sewell,"  said  he,  "tell  me  why  you  do 
not  believe  in  hypnotism?" 

The  youth  started  and  flushed. 

"Why,  doctor,  I — I — "  he  stammered,  "why 
— that  is  why  I  am  here."  His  eyes,  which 
had  shone  with  some  excitement,  took  on  a 
calmer  expression,  and  gradually  assumed  a 
look  of  intentness,  as  if  he  were  deeply  study- 
ing something  within  rather  than  outside 
of  them,  though  they  were  fixed  on  the 
doctor's. 


THE  TIN  BOX  77 

"If  you  had  believed  in  it  you  would  not 
come  to  me  in  just  the  way  you  have.  You  do 
not  believe  in  hypnotism  in  the  least,  do  you?" 

"No,  sir."  The  answer  this  time  was 
calm,  matter  of  fact,  perfectly  assured. 

"Tell  me  why." 

"Because  I  have  studied  the  matter  from 
both  sides,  at  times  as  the  hypnotist  and  at 
other  times  as  the  subject,  and  it  is  only  a 
delusion.  When  I  was  at  college  and  in  need 
of  money,  I  hired  out  to  a  number  of  different 
hypnotists  at  $2  an  evening.  There  were 
eight  of  us  who  did  that  frequently.  Some 
of  the  professors  were  honestly  in  pursuit  of 
science,  and  these  we  used  to  fool.  Two 
dollars  an  evening  was  a  good  deal  to  us. 
.  "Never  did  any  one  of  us  feel  the  slightest 
influence  of  hypnotism,  though  we  pretended 
to  be  helpless.  We  practiced  difficult  feats 
in  order  to  do  them  at  command,  and  suf- 
fered a  good  deal  of  pain  sometimes  in  the 
experiments  rather  than  give  up  our  job  as 
good  subjects.  But  other  so  called  hypnotists 
never  attempted  anything  occult  with  us  at 
all.  They  were  simply  showmen,  who  taught 
us  funny  stunts  and  paid  us  for  going  through 
them  before  spectators  or  before  a  camera. 
We  were  often  distributed  around  through 
an  audience,  and  at  the  call  for  volunteers 
came  up  as  greenhorns  and  did  the  tricks." 

"You  have  looked  at  the  matter  on  all 
sides  then,  haven't  you?  And  all  that  you 
have  ever  seen  of  hypnotism  has  been  pure 
fake?" 


fB     EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

"Yes,  doctor.  Either  one  side  or  the  other 
is  always  fooled." 

"  Why  did  you  come  to  me  ?" 

"Because  I  trusted  your  detective  abiKty 
and  benevolence." 

"Why  did  you  say  that  you  bdieved  in 
my  hypnodc  powers?" 

The  youth  shook  his  head  slightly,  but 
with  surety. 

"I  did  not  say  that," 

"What  did  you  say?" 

"I — I  can't  seem  to  think." 

"Perhaps  it  was  only  that  you  had  heard 
of  my  remarkable  powers  ?" 

"Yes,  doctor,  that   was  it." 

"Why  did  you  mention  hypnotism  at  all?** 

"Because  I  thought  I  should  gain  your 
interest  that  way.  Every  scientist  is  an  enthu- 
siast on  his  specialty,  and  is  easily  led  by  it 
almost  anywhere." 

"  You  do  not  think  I  could  hypnotize  you  ?" 

"No,  sir,  you  could  not." 

"You  don't  think  there  may  be  a  phase  ol 
psychology  entirely  outside  and  different  from 
the  lines  with  which  you  are  familiar,  and 
which  may  be  true  hypnotism?" 

"Oh,  I  would  not  say  as  to  that.  I  mily 
maintain  that  there  is  no  such  thing  as  thought 
transference  in  the  commonly  accepted  sense. 
I  have  seen  a  hundred  cases  which  seemed 
to  be  pure  hypaiotism  beyond  dispute,  but 
always  there  was  a  trick,  either  by  the  operator 
or  the  subject,  or  both,  which  made  a  farce 
of  the  exhibition." 


THE  TIN  BOX  ff 

"But  you  must  admit  the  hypnotic  sleep?" 

"There  is  undoubtedly  some  truth,  per- 
haps a  great  deal  of  truth  in  that.  A  person 
may  be  induced  into  a  sort  of  half-conscious 
state,  possibly,  through  sight  or  pressure.  I 
think  I  have  seen  that  done,  but  there  are  so 
many  things  to  consider  that  I  would  not 
take  my  oath  on  it.  What  I  deny  is  the  pos- 
sibility of  the  reception  of  a  thought,  pro- 
jected mentally  by  another,  while  the  subject 
is  in  that  state.  The  thing  is  absurd.  It 
would  be  equally  against  the  laws  of  the  soul 
and  those  of  physics,  as  unjust  as  unscien- 
tific." 

Dr.  Furnivall  resumed  his  glasses  with  a 
decided  movement. 

"I  do  not  see  that  you  were  far  wrong, 
Mr.  Clemmons,"  he  said  quietly,  "in  coming 
to  me  under  a  false  name.  Of  course,  I  recog- 
nized you  immediately  as  one  of  the  nephews 
by  the  description  in  the  newspapers  and 
the  subject  which  you  opened.  Your  appear- 
ance and  words  struck  me  favorably,  and 
I  did  not  wish  to  pry  into  your  private  reasons. 
All  these  things  we  will  talk  over  later.  In 
the  meantime  I  shall  hasten  to  CentreviUe. 
The  case  interests  me  extremely,  on  one  point 
at  least,  and  I  am  sure  it  will  interest  you  and 
all  psychologists  when  that  point  is  made  clear. 
Will  you  go  along  with  me?" 

At  the  beginning  of  this  speech  the  visitor 
turned  pale  and  looked  swiftly  around  as  if 
about  to  flee.  But  as  the  doctor  proceeded 
he    became    gradually    more    quiet,    until    at 


8o      EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

the  end  the  chief  expression  on  his  face  was 
that  of  mild  perplexity,  and  he  said  hesi- 
tatingly : 

"It's  most  curious — I — I  feel  a  sort  of — 
of  dual  personality,  as  if  I  were  here  and  yet 
not  here.  And  I  am  sure  I  had  no  intention 
of  telling  as  much  as  I  have  told  you." 

"Oh,  that's  common  enough,"  said  the 
doctor  lightly.  "We  all  of  us  have  a  double 
personality,  because  one  lobe  of  the  brain  is 
educated  and  the  other  is  a  sort  of  vagabond 
dunce.  And  most  of  us  talk  too  much.  But 
come,"  rising,  "will  you  accompany  me  to 
Centreville?  We  may  dip  into  psychology 
some  other  time." 

"You  have  a  theory?"  cried  the  young 
man,  eagerly. 

"  Certainly.  But  it  is  in  a  fluid  state,  so  to 
say,  as  yet,  and  may  materialize  in  either  one 
of  three  different  forms.  The  structure  requires 
still  a  block  or  two  of  solid  fact.  So  far  it  is 
a  sort  of  arch,  with  that  impossible  passage 
as  the  comer  stone,  and  the  tin  box  as  the  key- 
stone, and  I  must  see  that  woman  at  once." 

"I  shall  be  glad  to  go,  but — they'll  recog- 
nize me  there — arrest  me " 

The  doctor  passed  him  a  motor  mask. 

"  Put  that  on  when  we  arrive  in  the  vicinity, 
and  don't  leave  the  automobile  unless  I  call 
you." 

Five  minutes  later  they  were  rushing  toward 
Centreville  as  fast  as  the  law  permitted. 

"Wal,"  said  the  Centreville  chief  of  police, 
when   Dr.   Fumivall   had   introduced   himself 


THE  TIN  BOX  9t 

and  made  known  his  business,  "I  got  the 
criminal  all  right,  that's  sure.  An'  I  guess 
you  can  see  her,  if  you  want  to,  but  'twon't 
do  no  good.  She  sticks  to  that  tomfool  story 
spite  of  all  I  can  do.  I've  showed  her  plain 
enough  that  'twas  onreasonable,  an'  only 
made  it  wuss  for  her  a-stickin'  to  it,  fer  e very- 
buddy  knows  it's  nothin'  but  a  lie,  an'  if  she 
that  was  there  present  '11  lie  about  the  fac's, 
then  she  must  be  guilty  some  way.  But 
here  ye  be." 

He  halted  before  a  cell,  through  the  grated 
door  of  which,  on  a  cot  in  a  corner,  a  woman 
could  be  seen  seated. 

"Susan,"  he  called,  "here's  a  big  doctor 
frum  the  city  come  to  see  ye.  Mind  what 
ye  say  to  him,  now,  fer  everything  ye  tell  '11 
be  used  agin  ye.  All  ye  gut  t'  do  is  speak  the 
truth.  I  ain't  gut  no  right  to  gin  ye  no  orders, 
an'  I  won't  neither,  but  all  I  say  is,  you  drop 
that  fool  yarn,  an'  if  ye  must  lie,  why  do  it 
reasonable.  Nobuddy  ain't  ever  gonter  take 
any  stock  in  that  one." 

The  woman  arose  ana  came  forward 
timidly.  Her  figure  was  very  tall  and  gaunt, 
and  perfectly  straight,  so  that  her  gait  as  she 
walked  would  have  given  her  a  majestic  air 
but  for  the  mild  helplessness  and  bewilder- 
ment of  her  face.  That  neutralized  the  effect 
and  resulted  in  caricature.  Her  brown  hair, 
turning  gray,  was  parted  in  the  middle,  brushed 
tightly  back  and  piled  on  the  crown  of  her 
head,  with  an  old  fashioned  net  over  it,  which 
did  not  prevent  a  stray  lock  from  dangling 


8d    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

into  one  of  her  dim,  light  hued  eyes.  She 
was  wetting  her  finger  and  trying  to  tuck  this 
into  place  as  she  approached  the  cell  door. 
Dr.  Fumivall  reached  through  the  bars  and 
grasped  her  hand,  shaking  it  encouragingly. 
The  chief  went  back  to  his  desk. 

"I  wish  to  ask  you,"  said  the  doctor,  "if 
those  men  said  anything  that  night?  Did 
not  either  one  of  them  utter  a  single  word 
that  you  could  hear?" 

"Land's  sake!  I  dunno,"  she  answered, 
with  the  monotonous  inflection  of  voice  pecu- 
liar to  the  simple  minded.  "She's  screechin* 
so  I  couldn't  hear  nothin'  else.  An'  I  sorter 
didn't  hear  that  till  arterwards,  I  wuz  so 
frightened  an'  haired  up." 

"There  was  a  window  over  your  bed — why 
didn't  you  open  that  and  crawl  through?  Why 
did  you  run  toward  the  man?  You  knew  you 
couldn't  pass  him,  didn't  you?" 

"Oh,  I  dunno,  I  dunno!"  she  moaned,  help- 
lessly. Then,  her  eyes  fixed  on  the  doctor's, 
a  shade  of  intelligence  flickering  into  her  face, 
she  added:  "Th'  winders  is  all  screwed  up 
nights,  'fraid  o'  thieves,  an'  I  couldn't  git  out 
that  way.  I  didn't  know  what  I  wuz  doin*. 
I  jest  put  her  fer  th'  door." 

"The  only  light  in  the  room  shone  from 
tne  candle  in  the  kitchen,  through  the  door- 
way?" 

"Yes,  that  wuz  all  th'  wuz.  An'  'twa'n't 
no  great.  Jest  enough  t'  make  darkness 
visible." 

"  How  were  you  able  to  see  the  man  at  all  ?" 


THE  TIN  BOX  da 

"He  wuz  agin  th*  light.  Sorter  like  a 
shadder  on  th*  wall." 

"Could  the  rays  strike  you  as  you  came 
around  the  headboard?  Or  did  they  go  the 
other  way,  toward  the  foot  of  the  bed  ?" 

"I  dunno,  the'  wa'n't  much  light.  He 
took  it  all  up,  'cept  a  little  on  the  bed." 

"Did  you  scream  as  you  ran  toward  him?" 

"My  sakesl  No,  I  guess  not.  I  was  too 
skeered.  I  couldn't  open  my  mouth  to  save 
my  life." 

"Did  he  bend  over  to  let  you  pass  before 
you  touched  him?  Did  you  come  against  his 
body  at  all?" 

"I  dunno.  I  run  against  a  good  many 
things.  My  night  gown  wuz  all  tore,  an' 
the'  wuz  some  whitewash  on  it.  I  dunno 
what  I  gut  that  off  of.  But  I  didn't  seem  to 
feel  nothin'  I  hit  against  till  arter wards." 

"  Whitewash  1  Is  there  anything  white- 
washed around  the  place?" 

"The  chicken  coops  is,  an'  the  side  fence, 
but  I  didn't  go  nowheres  near  them.  I  run 
out  the  front  way." 

"You  say  the  man  was  very  large.  Was 
there  anything  else  you  noticed  about  him?" 

"I  dunno  's  the'  wuz.  He  run  kinder 
cur'ous  when  he  come  out  the  house.  He 
was  lame  I  guess.  His  feet  seemed  kinder 
funny,  th'  way  he  used  'em." 

"Should  you  say  he  might  have  been  club- 
footed  ?" 

"Maybe  he  wuz.  I  couldn't  tell.  'Twuz 
the  kinder  jerky  way  he  run.    P'aps  he  had  a 


84      EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

wooden  laig.  'Twuz  dark,  an'  I  only  see  th* 
men  quick-like." 

Dr.  Furnivall  took  her  hand  again  between 
the  bars  and  pressed  it. 

"Cheer  up.  We  shall  have  you  out  of  here 
very  soon,"  he  said. 

She  watched  him  as  he  walked  down  the 
short  corridor  to  the  office,  the  unwonted 
intelligence  in  her  face  slowly  giving  way  to 
her  normal  fatuous  expression. 

"Is  there  a  negro  in  the  town  who  does 
whitewashing?"    the   doctor    asked    the   chief. 

"I  dunno  of  none,"  he  answered.  "Can't 
ye  git  none  in  th'  city?"  He  was  grinding 
tobacco  between  his  horny  palms  and  looked 
up  in  some  surprise  at  the  question. 

"I  should  like  to  find  one  here,"  returned 
Dr.  Furnivall  in  a  matter-of-fact  tone. 

"D'ye  know  where  the's  a  coon  white- 
washer,  Jim,"  asked  the  chief  obligingly  of 
one  of  his  men  who  was  working  about  the 
room. 

Jim  spat,  scratched  his  arm  thoughtfully, 
and  came  forward. 

"I  guess  th's  one  over  in  Sol  Weathersby's 
shanty,"  he  answered.  "I  see  a  darky  there 
this  mornin',  an'  he  looked  like  one — hed  on 
white  overalls  an'  his  jumper  was  kinder 
daubed.  Might  'a'  been  lime,  though.  P'aps 
he  makes  mortar  fer  th'  masons." 

"You  don't  know  him  then — he's  a  stran- 
ger?" asked  Dr.  Furnivall. 

"No,  I  don't  know  him  myself,"  the  man 
returned.    "But    th'    Weathersbys    could    gin 


THE  TIN  BOX  85 

ye  pints  on  him,  I  guess.  He's  in  their 
shanty.  Joe  Weathersby  wuz  with  him  when 
I  see  him." 

"Joe  is  Sol's  nephy — used  t'  work  in  th' 
city.  He  ain't  been  back  long,**  volunteered 
the   chief  for   Dr.    Fumivall's   enlightenment. 

"What  kind  of  a  man  is  this  Joe?"  the  doc- 
tor asked.  "If  he  should  recommend  the 
negro  to  me,  could  I  take  his  word?" 

"Wal."  The  chief  knit  his  brows.  "I 
don't  wanter  say  nothin'  agin  any  o'  Sol  Weath- 
ersby's  folks.  He's  a  good  man,  an'  's  gut 
propurty.  An'  Joe  ain't  never  made  us  no 
trouble.  He  ain't  lived  'round  here  much 
since  he  wuz  a  boy." 

The  doctor  hastened  out  to  the  automobile 
in  front  of  the  door. 

"I  am  going  to  drop  you  up  here  in  the 
woods,  where  you'll  be  out  of  sight  for  a  little 
while,"  he  said  to  its  occupant.  "In  which 
direction  is  the  shanty  belonging  to  the 
Weathersbys  ?" 

And  when  they  were  started  he  continued: 

"I  accept  the  woman's  story  in  toto,  and 
must  base  my  theory  on  it.  What  kind  of  a 
character  must  be  his  who,  in  the  circum- 
stances, would  allow  her  to  pass — what  could 
be  his  reasons?  I  have  settled  on  what  seems, 
so  far,  the  only  possible  fact,  and  am  look- 
ing for  a  man  who  is  large,  for  she  so  described 
him;  brutal,  because  of  his  methods;  densely 
ignorant,  for  reasons  that  will  appear  in  his 
confession,  probably  a  foreigner  or  negro  of 
the   lowest    stamp.    I    incline    to    the    negro, 


86     EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

because  the  woman  noticed  that  he  had  an 
odd  gait — so  many  of  them  have  great  feet 
and  wear  ungainly  shoes  run  down  at  the 
heel,  and  walk  with  visible  effort — and  also 
for  the  reason  that  she  found  traces  of  white- 
wash on  her  nightgown.  Many  whitewashers 
are  negroes.  "  His  companion  doesn't  matter 
now,  for,  the  big  man  once  found,  the  other 
can't  escape.  The  only  point  that  is  not 
clear  to  me  is  why  the  will  was  taken  and 
burned  and  the  money  left  behind.  But 
that  will  appear  in  the  sequel.  You 
would  better  alight  here  and  hide  in  the 
bushes.  I  shall  go  to  the  station  for  help, 
which  the  chief  will  readily  give  me  if  he 
thinks  we're  after  Susan's  accomplices. 
When  we  come  back  from  the  shanty  you 
can  join  us  if  we  stop  at  this  spot.  But  if  we 
drive  straight  by,  our  expedition  will  have 
failed,  and  you'll  have  to  wait  until  I  return 
for  you." 

A  half  hour  afterward  the  automobile 
containing  Dr.  Fumivall,  the  chief  and  one 
of  his  men,  approached  the  Weathersby  shanty. 
It  was  a  small,  unpainted,  weatherbeaten 
structure,  sitting  a  little  back  from  the  road 
on  the  edge  of  the  dark  woods,  in  use  only  in 
haying  time,  for  the  occupancy  of  such  itin- 
erant laborers  on  the  Weathersby  place  as 
were  not  desired  nearer  the  farmhouse.  Trees 
and  underbrush  crept  closely  up  to  it  on  two 
sides,  in  front  was  a  small  clearing  with  a 
well  in  it,  and  on  the  remaining  side  ran  the 
county   road    under    the    forbidding    shadowi 


'^  THE  TIN  BOX  4f 

of  a  forest  crowned  cliff.  The  spot  was  cheer- 
less, sordid,  uncanny.  Its  very  countenance 
suggested  vice  ^d  crime. 

The  two  officers  descended  from  the  machine 
some  rods  from  the  building  and  crept  through 
the  woods  toward  it,  while  Dr.  Fumivall 
drove  into  the  clearing.  There  were  shutters 
on  the  windows,  the  door  was  closed,  and 
no  signs  of  life  were  visible  anywhere  about. 
The  premises  seemed  utterly  deserted.  But 
as  the  doctor  rapped  loudly  on  the  door  a 
sudden  scream  of  mortal  terror  arose  within, 
and  in  a  long  drawn  chattering  and  jabbering 
shuddered  away  into  silence. 

Finding  the  door  fastened,  he  rattled  the 
latch  noisily  and  called  out,  "Hello." 

Again  the  anguished  cry  sounded,  but 
this  time  in  tones  as  if  the  voice  were  muffled. 
And  finally  when,  putting  his  shoulder  to  it, 
the  doctor  burst  in  he  found  a  burly  form 
shaking  and  screaming  on  a  pallet  in  a  dark 
comer,  its  head  buried  in  the  rags  which 
answered  for  bedding. 

As  Dr.  Furnivall  threw  open  one  of  the 
shutters,  letting  in  a  stream  of  daylight  upon 
the  bed,  the  occupant  started  up,  disclosing 
a  terrified  black  face,  which  quickly  took  on  an 
expression  of  relief,  and  he  exclaimed : 

"'Fo'  Gawd,  man,  I'se  glad  yo*  come; 
oh,  I'se  glad  yo*  come.  Git  meh  out'n  yere, 
w'ere  ah  cain'  see  hit,  an*  Ah  doan  keer  w'ere 
yo'  puts  me.'* 

He  crept  forward  on  his  hands  and  knees, 
groveling  at  Dr.  Fumivall's  feet. 


88      EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

"Ah  done  hit,  mister,  Ah  ain'  gwine  deny 
dat,  an'  Ah  sees  hit  eber  sence.  Joe  he  claim 
*twuz  de  sarven'  gal,  b't  Ah  doan  know  'bout 
dat.  Ah  sees  hit  eber  sence.  Ah  done  t'ought 
yo*  wuz  hit." 

"Sit  up  here,  take  this  chair.  There, 
now  tell  me  all  about  it." 

He  placed  a  chair  facing  the  light  that 
entered  the  doorway,  and  motioning  the  police- 
men, who  now  stood  at  the  open  window, 
to  remain  where  they  were,  helped  the  negro 
to  the  seat  and  bade  him  proceed  with  his 
story. 

So  thankful  was  the  man,  as  it  appeared, 
for  human  company,  and  relief  from  the  super- 
stitious fears  which  were  driving  him  insane, 
that  he  scarcely  needed  the  assistance  which 
Dr.  Fumivall's  peculiar  powers  could  aflford 
him,  and  he  readily  confessed  as  follows: 

"Ah  knewed  dat  Joe  Weathersby  in  de 
city,  mister,  an'  he  say  some  sarven'  gal  dat 
uster  wurk  en  de  fam'bly  done  tol'  heem  ol' 
Mis.  Snowmun  allerz  keep  fi*  t'ousan'  dollars 
en  de  tin  box  on  de  bureau  en  de  baidroom. 
He  say  he  gwine  gi'  meh  half  dat  money  eef 
Ah  he'p  heem  git  de  box.  We  done  bruk  en 
de  house  an'  gi'  de  man  chlo'form,  b't  we 
bungle  dat  job  an'  de  man  wake  up,  an*  we 
done  hit  heem  wid  de  club.  Den  ol'  Mis' 
she  bergin'  t'  scream,  an'  Ah  run  en  tuh  her 
room  for  tuh  stop  her  noise.  Den — Ah — Ah 
see  de  ghos'  come  a-fiittin'  right  up  tuh  dis 
nigger  an*  Ah  drop  on  de  baid,  for  den  Ah 
knows  de  man  in  de  odder  room  am  daid  an* 


THE  TIN  BOX  89 

Ah  is  a  murderer,  an'  Ah  cain'  do  anodder 
t'ing.  Joe  he  come  en  an'  git  de  box  an'  we 
run  fo'  de  woods,  b't  dar  wan'  no  money  in 
de  box,  on'y  ol'  paper.  Den  Ah  gibs  up. 
Joe  bum  de  paper  for  git  hit  out  de  way,  an' 
Ah  hide  ma  haid  en  de  leabes  an'  grass,  but 
de  ghos'  is  dar  all  de  taime  an'  nebber  leabe 
meh.  Joe  he  say  hit  de  sarven'  gal  b't  Ah 
knows  bettern's  dat.  Ah  see  hit  offen  sence. 
Ah  see  hit  jes'  'fore  yo'  corned,  mister,  right 
yere  en  dis  plaice.  Ah  done  t'ink  yo'  wuz 
hit  w'en  yo'  knock  on  de  do'.  Yo'  tek  meh  t' 
de  jail,  yo'  tek  meh  anyw'ere,  Ah  doan'  keer, 
ef  on'y  yo'  tek  meh  w'ere  dat   cain'  come!" 

"Goshamiteyl"  muttered  the  bewildered 
chief  as  he  slipped  on  the  handcuffs,  pain- 
fully relinquishing  the  theory  which  seemed 
so  simple  for  the  simpler  truth  of  which  he 
had  not  dreamed,  "I  never '11  believe  northin' 
agin  as  long  's  I  live  onless  I  see  it  or  hear 
it  myself.  Things  is  dretful  queer  in  this 
world;  that's  what  they  is,  dretful  queer." 

Dr.  Furnivall  jotted  down  in  his  notebook 
the  following: 

THE  TIN  BOX  CASE. 

Memo  —  Hallucinations :  Classify  the  ne- 
gro's. Mento-objective:  notify  psychical  re- 
search. 

Memo — Coincidences:  The  (probably  vain- 
glorious) lie  of  the  former  servant,  that  there 
was  $5,000  in  the  box  leads  to  destruction  of 
the  will,  whereby  the  strongest  presumptions 
of  guilt  are  directed  toward  the  innocent; 
circumstantial  evidence;  classify. 


The  Tragedy  at  the 
Colonial 


TEiE  TRAGEDY  AT  THE  COLONIAL 

Tt  was  4  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  a 
debilitating  spring  day.  The  crowds  that 
thronged  the  street,  surging  always  to  the 
shady  side,  moved  with  a  lack  of  energy  pecu- 
liar to  the  time  of  year.  Listless,  perspiring, 
yellow  of  skin,  uneasy  in  clothes  that  were 
too  heavy  by  some  pounds,  they  seemed  more 
like  an  army  of  invalids  out  for  a  prescribed 
constitutional,  than  representative  men  and 
women  of  one  of  the  foremost  cities  of  the 
world,  which  they  were,  bent  upon  their  accus- 
tomed round  of  business  or  of  pleasure.  Even 
the  hackmen  on  their  stands,  those  eternally 
alert  and  invincible  types  of  the  genus  "wide 
eye,"  were  calmly  nodding  on  their  boxes, 
careless  of  fares,  apparently,  wishing  for 
nothing  but  to  be  let  alone  in  their  shade  by 
the  curb. 

But  in  one  instant  all  this  was  changed. 
A  hoarse  cry  rang  out  on  the  air.  Three  of 
the  seeming  sleepers  tumbled  from  their  boxes 
to  the  ground  as  one  man,  and  at  the  top  of 
their  speed  dashed  down  the  street.  The 
crowd  on  the  sidewalk  awoke  as  from  a 
shock  of  electricity,  paused,  stared  in  sur- 
prise at  the  bounding  shapes,  and  then  set 
off  after  them.  In  front  of  the  Colonial  Hotel 
the  lines  of  people,  running  from  all  directions, 
met  as  the  spokes  of  a  wheel  meet  in  the  hub, 


94     EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

with  the  hackmen  in  the  centre,  bending 
over  something  on  the  ground. 

"What  is  it?"  excitedly  cried  a  hundred 
breathless  runners. 

"A  woman  fainted!"  answered  one. 

"A  pickpocket  1"  answered  another. 

"No,  it's  only  a  drunk!"  contributed  some- 
body else. 

Meanwhile  the  hack  drivers  were  exam- 
ining the  body  of  a  man,  which,  smashed  to 
a  pulp,  was  huddled  in  a  ghastly  heap  oa 
the  flags. 

"Tenth  story,"  said  one  to  the  other  in  a 
hushed  voice;  "I  seen  him  when  he  started, 
ead  over  end  like  one  o'  them  'ere  windmills," 

"He's  gone,"  said  another.  "My I  Ain't 
it  awful!"  He  turned  away,  sick  from  the 
horrid  spectacle. 

"Get  a  doctor!"  shouted  somebody  in  the 
crowd. 

The  hackmen  straightened  up  and  looked 
irresolutdy  around.  They  had  no  notion  what 
to  do.  Suddenly  one  of  them  raised  his  hand, 
standing  on  tiptoe,  and  beckoned.  He  had 
seen  a  policeman  pushing  into  the  jam  and 
he  called  out:    "This  way — hi  I    Over  here!" 

"Now,  then,  clear  the  road  I"  cried  the 
strong  voice  of  the  law,  and,  though  the  road 
was  not  cleared,  because  it  could  not  be,  on 
account  of  the  density  of  the  human  pressure 
behind,  the  oflScer  fought  in  to  the  central 
group,  taking  care  not  to  be  too  gentle  about 
it.  The  hackmen  began  to  explain,  all  together, 
each  rdating  a  little  different  story  from  the 


THE  TRAGEDY  AT  THE  COLONIAL    99 

Other,  but  all  agreeing  in  the  essential  that  the 
man  had  fallen  to  his  death  from  an  open 
window  on  the  tenth  floor  of  the  hotel,  and 
that  they  had  all  of  them  seen  him  do  it. 

"Anybody  here  know  him?"  asked  the  offi- 
cer, consulting  the  nearest  bystanders  with  his 
eyes.  But  as  the  body  lay  face  to  the  ground, 
unrecognizable,  nobody  ventured  to  claim  its 
acquaintance. 

"Well,  move  back,  move  back!  There's 
nothing  to  see  here,"  the  officer  exclaimed 
with  impatience,  and  was  beginning  to  enforce 
his  command  with  a  strong  arm  when  his 
eyes,  raised  over  the  heads  of  the  crowd,  ftXL 
on  a  man  making  extraordinary  gestures, 
apparently  to  him,  from  a  window  of  the  great 
apartment  house  opposite.  He  was  on  the 
tenth  floor,  directly  across  the  street,  acting 
like  an  insane  person,  working  his  shoulders, 
pushing  with  his  arms  against  nothing,  point* 
Ing  to  the  hotel  on  a  level  with  his  window, 
and  then  extending  both  forefingers  in  the 
direction  of  the  Colonial  entrance.  Some  in 
the  crowd,  following  the  direction  of  the  police* 
man's  surprised  gaze,  began  to  cry  out: 
"There's  another  one!"  "He'll  be  down  in 
a  minute — let's  run  up  there!"  "He's  crazy!" 
And  then  a  youth,  in  a  burst  of  inspiration, 
hit  the  truth.  "He's  trying  to  tell  us  that  this 
man  was  pushed  out  of  the  window,  that  he  saw 
it  done,  and  that  the  entrance  should  be  guarded 
while  a  search  is  made  for  the  murderer." 

"Run  up  there,  then,  and  bring  him  down 
here,"   said   the  officer   to   the   last   speaker. 


96     EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

"Comedown  here,  youl"  he  moved  his  lips 
as  if  to  say,  beckoning  to  the  gentleman  at  the 
window.  But  he  shook  his  head  and  displayed 
new  motions.  He  was  an  invalid  and  could  not 
walk.    He  made  that  plain  by  his  gestures. 

At  this  moment  the  hospital  ambulance 
caused  a  diversion  by  rushing  up  and  deposit- 
ing a  surgeon  and  his  assistant,  who  took 
charge  of  the  body,  which,  as  soon  as  its  face 
was  exposed,  was  recognized  by  a  dozen  dif- 
ferent men  as  that  of  Frederick  Seavey,  a  real 
estate  dealer,  who  lived  in  suite  looi,  The 
Colonial,  with  offices  down  town.  By  this 
time  both  the  proprietor  and  the  janitor  of 
the  hotel  had  appeared  on  the  scene,  the  one 
with  a  declaration  that  Mrs.  Seavey  was  lying 
sick  in  bed,  and  must  not  be  told  of  the  tragedy 
for  fear  of  its  effect  on  her,  and  the  other  with 
a  statement  that  rendered  the  former's  pre- 
cautions useless.  Mrs.  Seavey  must  know 
about  it  already,  he  said.  In  fact,  there 
had  been  a  row  in  the  Seavey  rooms.  He 
had  heard  loud  voices,  one  of  which  was  Mr. 
Seavey's,  and  the  other  that  of  a  man  with 
a  powerful  bass,  this  latter  replying  to 
some  heated  words  of  Mr.  Seavey's  with, 
"You  dogl  You  ought  to  be  kicked  out  of 
the  window!"  This  occurred  in  the  front 
room,  where  the  sick  wife  was  lying.  She 
must  be  fully  aware  of  all  that  had  taken  place 
there,  and  could  throw  such  light  on  the  mys- 
tery as  would  immediately  clear  it  up. 

Upon  this  the  landlord  hurriedly  volun- 
teered to  see  the  lady,  and  was  turning  to  go 


THE  TRAGEDY  AT  THE  COLONIAL    97 

inside  when  a  bright  reporter,  who  had 
appeared  in  time  to  hear  this  testimony,  sug- 
gested that  though  the  murderer  had  had 
plenty  of  time  to  escape,  he  might  not  have 
done  so,  and  the  house  should  be  searched 
and  guards  stationed  at  all  the  exits,  who 
should  allow  nobody  to  pass  to  the  street 
until  identified.  This  was  arranged  for  at 
once,  several  responsible  persons  offering  their 
services  to  help  out  the  employes  of  the  hotel, 
and  the  landlord  again  started  to  enter. 

The  policeman  who  had  so  far  figured  in 
the  case  had  meanwhile  hastened  to  the 
apartment  house  across  the  way  and  ques- 
tioned the  excited  man  at  the  window.  He 
now  reappeared  and,  taking  the  landlord  by 
the  arm,  whispered: 

"It's  a  clear  case.  Murder!  Mr.  Daniels 
over  there  seen  the  whole  thing.  He  was 
lookin'  into  the  room.  There  was  two  men; 
one  near  the  window  and  the  other  shaking 
his  fist  at  him,  and  the  first  thing  he  knew 
one  was  tumbling,  the  window  being  open, 
and  the  other  was  just  pushing  him.  He 
seen  his  hands  on  him." 

The  much  exercised  man  turned  a  troubled 
face  to  the  patrolman. 

"That  corroborates  the  janitor,"  he  said. 
"Notify  your  office  as  quick  as  you  can." 

He  then  summoned  the  house  physician, 
and  together  they  hurried  to  suite  looi. 

The  rap  at  the  door  remaining  unanswered, 
they  were  on  the  point  of  turning  the  knob 
when    a    housemaid    came    running    toward 


98      EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

them  along  the  hall  with  the  information 
that  a  doctor  was  with  Mrs.  Seavey  and  she 
was  not  to  be  disturbed.  The  doctor  him- 
self had  given  orders  to  that  effect. 

This  statement,  so  far  from  having  the 
effect  the  maid  expected,  resulted  in  an  action 
on  the  part  of  her  employer  that  made  her 
fear  for  his  sanity,  for  with  a  sudden  wrench 
he  tore  the  door  open  and,  with  his  left  arm 
bent  above  his  head,  as  if  to  ward  off  a 
threatened  blow,  he  bounded  into  the  apart- 
ment like  a  tiger  on  its  prey,  the  physician 
dosely  treading  on  his  heels. 

But  once  in,  both  men  stared  Uankly. 
There  were  no  signs  of  disturbance.  Nobody 
was  in  the  room  but  the  sick  woman,  who 
lay  perfectly  still  on  the  outside  of  the  bed, 
her  face  to  the  wall;  and  a  hasty  examination 
showed  that  the  door  leading  to  the  other 
parts  of  the  suite  was  fastened,  the  key  being 
in  the  lock  on  their  side. 

"How  long  ago  was  the  doctor  here?" 
the  landlord  asked  the  maid. 

"Why,  only  a  few  minutes  ago,  surely.    I 
didn't  know  he  had  gone.     He  has  not   had 
time    to    make    the    examination.     He    said 
nobody  was  to  enter  until  he  called  me." 

"Were  you  to  guard  the  door?" 

She  hung  her  head. 

"Ye-yes,  sir.  I — I  only  went  for  a  drink 
of  water." 

"Did  you  see  Mr.  Seavey  come  in?" 

"No,  sir.  He  is  seldom  home  till  5  or 
past." 


THE  TRAGEDY  AT  THE  COLONIAL  99 

"Don't  you  know  what  has  happened  here?" 

"Wh-why,  no,  sir.     Is  she  worse?" 

She  threw  a  startled  look  toward  the  bed, 
and  then  hastened  to  it.  The  doctor  and 
she  reached  it  at  the  same  moment. 

"I  didn't  mean  to  leave  her,"  she  whis- 
pered anxiously  to  him.  "She  wasn't  very 
sick;  and  I  couldn't  have  been  away  from 
the  door  five  minutes." 

The  doctor  examined  the  invalid's  face 
and  took  her  pulse. 

"Hysteria,"  he  said. 

As  he  spoke,  the  patient's  eyelids  trembled 
open.  At  sight  of  him  bending  over  her  she 
screamed  and  began  to  cry  out  incoherently, 
which  brought  the  landlord,  who  had  been 
searching  the  apartments  hurriedly,  to  the 
bedside. 

"What  is  she  saying?"  he  whispered. 
"Has  she  given  any  clue?  What's  the  mat- 
ter with  her?" 

"I  can't  make  out  what  she  says,"  the 
doctor  returned;  "and  I  can't  make  out  what 
the  matter  is,  either.  If  it's  hysteria,  it's 
the  queerest  case  I  ever  saw  yet.  It's  more 
like  raving  insanity.  Look  at  her  eyes.  What 
doctor  did  she  have?"  he  asked  the  maid. 

"Why,  I  don't  know  who  this  one  was. 
She's  had  several.  She  called  him  herself 
on  the  telephone.  She  wasn't  very  sick  then. 
See,  she  isn't  undressed." 

"How  came  you  here,  anyway?"  asked 
the  landlord.  "Did  Mr.  Clark  assign  you 
to  Mrs.  Seavey?" 


lOO    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

"Yes,  sir.  She  has  no  maid  of  her  own 
just  now  and  asked  for  me  at  the  office.  Oh, 
dear,  I  am  so  sorry " 

She  stopped  suddenly  and  her  eyes  grew 
wide  as  the  helmet  of  a  policeman  was  pushed 
around  the  edge  of  the  door,  immediately 
followed  by  the  burly  body  of  Sergeant  Nulty, 
who  advanced  softly  to  the  group  looking 
inquiringly  from  one  to  the  others.  While 
the  physician  busied  himself  with  the  patient 
the  landlord  drew  the  sergeant  aside  and 
told  him  all  that  had  been  discovered. 

"An'  yees  dunno  phwat  wan  the  docthor 
was?"  he  asked. 

"No." 

"Well,  'twas  him  done  it." 

"  Of  course.  But  how  does  •  that  help 
us?  Mrs.  Seavey  can't  speak,  and  she  is 
the  only  person  who  can  give  that  doctor's 
name." 

"Can't  sphake?     She  can." 

•"Not  intelligently.     Listen." 

"Man,"  said  Nulty,  after  giving  an  atten- 
tive ear  to  the  jerky  syllables  that  issued  from 
the  patient's  mouth,  tumbling  over  one  another 
in  a  turgid  stream,  wholly  devoid  of  sense 
or  connection,  "man,,  Oi  have  wan  that  c'u'd 
make  the  lady  sphake.  Yis,  begob!  Sphake? 
He  c'u'd  draw  language  from  a  pig.  He 
made  mesilf  shpake  wanst."  He  looked  as  if 
he  scarcely   relished   the   remembrance. 

The  landlord  eyed  him  disapprovingly. 

"This  is  no  time  nor  place  for  joking," 
he  said,  "and  I  don't  understand  you." 


THE  TRAGEDY  AT  THE  COLONIAL         loi 

"Whisper!  It's  no  joke.  I  know  me  juty. 
'Tis  the  name  o'  the  docther  we  want,  noo, 
and  only  the  lady  can  tell  thot  same,  but  she 
can't  sphake.  But  she  can  sphake!  The's 
wan  man  will  get  the  news  from  her,  I'll  tell 
you.     Whisper!     Dr.  Furnivall!" 

He  winked  knowingly  as  he  pronounced 
the  word,  and  shook  his  head  confidently. 
The  landlord,  however,  was  unresponsive 
He  did  not  understand  yet.  But  the  phy- 
sician at  the  bedside  caught  the  name,  and 
nodded  to  the  sergeant. 

"Call  him,"  he  said.  "Tell  him  I  have 
asked  him  in  consultation.  There's  more  than 
hysteria  here,  I  don't  know  what  yet,  and  I 
should  be  glad  to  have  his  advice." 

The  sergeant  was  fortunate  enough  to  get 
speech  at  once  with  Dr.  Furnivall  over  the 
telephone,  and  in  less  than  a  quarter  of  an 
hour  he  arrived.  The  patient  now  lay  in  com- 
parative quiet,  crying  out  only  occasionally, 
in  such  an  incoherent  manner  that  nothing 
could  be  made  of  her  meaning.  Indeed,  as 
soon  as  Dr.  Furnivall  looked  into  her  eyes  he 
declared  that  she  had  no  meaning.  If  she 
spoke,  it  was  automatically.  And  he  was 
forced  to  confess  that  in  this  case  his  hypnotic 
powers  were  of  no  avail.  Her  mind  was  in 
such  a  chaotic  state  that  he  could  not  reach 
it.  It  had  no  stability.  She  was  incapable 
of  thought.  To  attempt  to  force  her  to  con- 
centrate her  ideas  and  bid  her  speak  would 
be  like  gazing  into  a  mass  of  floating  vapor 
and  bidding  it  to  body  itself  forth  as  a  voice. 


loa    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

Sergeant  Nulty,  who  had  hailed  the  entrance 
of  his  hero  with  a  broad  grin  of  triumph, 
scratched  his  head  and  grew  pale  with  chagrin, 
turning  a  helpless  eye  upon  the  man  he  had 
so  confidently  relied  upon,  but  who  now  dis- 
appointed him  at  the  moment  of  trial. 
Although  he  had  already,  over  the  telephone, 
briefly  explained  the  circumstances  to  Dr. 
Fumivall,  giving  him  the  main  points  of  the 
case  and  stating  what  he  wanted,  he  could 
not  help  thinking  that  the  doctor's  failure  was 
due,  perhaps,  to  the  fact  that  he  did  not 
quite  appreciate  the  great  importance  attach- 
ing to  the  discovery  of  that  missing  doctor's 
name.  When  it  is  absolutely  necessary  to 
do  a  thing,  it  can  be  done,  even  if  it  is  impos- 
sible, according  to  the  sergeant.  With  defer- 
ence he  therefore  approached  and  in  an  earnest 
whisper  began  to  go  over  the  story  again  for 
the  doctor's  better  understanding.  But  it  was 
useless.     Dr.   Fumivall  shook  his  head. 

"No  power  on  earth,"  he  said,  "can  draw 
sanity  from  a  mind  whose  organ  of  expres- 
sion, the  brain,  is  as  defective  as  that  woman's. 
Repair  the  brain  and  she  will  speak,  but  not 
until  that  is  done." 

Now,  when  the  sergeant  had  come  up  and 
began  to  whisper  his  explanations,  the  doctor, 
who  was  at  the  bedside,  moved  away  and 
stood  by  the  wall  at  the  footboard,  regard- 
ing the  invalid's  face,  which  was  turned  directly 
toward  him,  nevertheless  listening  to  the  story 
of  the  urgent  Irishman.  He  noticed  at  once 
that  the  bed  did  not  lie  snugly  against  the  wall. 


THE  TRAGEDY  AT  THE  COLONIAL         103 

and  he  saw  a  small  piece  of  paper  on  the  floor 
in  the  vacant  space,  but  thought  nothing  of 
it  until  the  necessity  of  discovering  the 
mysterious  physician's  identity  was  so  im- 
pressed upon  him,  but  at  the  very 
instant  when  the  last  quoted  words  were  on 
his  lips,  he  recognized  the  paper  as  one  torn 
from  a  physician's  prescription  pad,  and, 
moreover,  he  knew  immediately  what  phy- 
sician's pad  it  had  come  off  of!  It  was  that 
of  Dr.  Wellington.  In  short,  one  of  Dr.  Fur- 
nivall's  own  dearest  friends  was  indubitabW  the 
mysterious  doctor  whom  the  police  were  hunting 
for  having  committed  this  brutal  murder! 

In  a  flash  the  whole  situation  was  changed 
in  Dr.  Furnivall's  mind.  Heretofore  he  had 
accepted  the  theory  of  murder  without  question. 
All  signs  pointed  to  it — the  loud  words  in  the 
room,  the  fist  of  one  man  in  the  other  man's 
face,  the  pushing  arms,  the  fall  through  the  win- 
dow, the  condition  of  the  wife  which  was  sup- 
posedly brought  on  by  the  shock  of  seeing 
her  husband  tumbled  to  his  death,  and,  far  from 
weakest  in  the  category  of  strong  presumptive 
proofs,  the  sudden  absence  of  the  other  man, 
who  must  be  the  doctor  in  attendance  on 
Mrs.  Seavey.  Up  to  this  moment  Dr.  Fur- 
nivall  had  had  only  popular  grounds  on  which 
to  base  an  opinion.  He  had  known  nothing 
of  the  case  beyond  what  others  knew.  But 
now  he  had  first-hand  evidence,  the  evidence 
of  character.  Could  Dr.  Wellington  do  mur- 
der? No.  In  his  right  mind  murder  would 
be  as  impossible  to  him  as  Greek  to  a  baby. 


I04    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

Therefore,  supposing  him  sane,  and  granting 
that  his  was  the  bass  voice  heard  in  the  con- 
troversy with  Mr.  Seavey,  no  murder  had 
been  committed.  But  if  that  were  so,  what 
had  really  happened?  And  why  did  Dr. 
Wellington  run  away?  Would  such  a  man 
shirk  the  consequences  of  any  act  of  his? 
No,  no  more  than  he  would  wallow  in  crime. 
He  would  stand  like  a  man  and  pay  the 
penalty.  Cowardice  was  as  impossible  to  him 
as  viciousness — always  providing  he  was  in 
his  right  mind.  But  the  one  man  was  dead 
and  the  other  was  missing.  What,  then, 
had  really  occurred  between  them?  Was 
Wellington  insane?  Had  he  done  this  ter- 
rible thing  in  a  fit  of  maniacal  frenzy?  Or 
was  he  still  sane?  And,  therefore,  had  no 
crime  been  perpetrated? 

All  this  passed  through  Dr.  Furnivall's 
mind  with  the  rapidity  of  a  flash  of  lightning, 
and  his  course  was  determined  upon  as 
quickly.  Despite  the  evidence  to  the  con- 
trary, he  would  start  from  the  supposition 
that  an  accident,  not  a  crime,  was  the  real 
basis  of  the  tragedy.  With  him  known  char- 
acter outbalanced  a  solid  mass  of  evidence 
which  depended  on  decisions  of  the  human 
intellect,  made  up  from  the  testimony  of  the 
senses.  He  agreed  with  Bacon  that,  though 
the  senses  may  be  true,  the  intellect  is  usually 
incapable  of  passing  on  them.  It  was,  there- 
fore, with  a  firm  belief  in  his  friend's  inno- 
cence, and  a  resolution  to  seek  in  the  direction 
of  mishap,   rather  than  in  that  of  violence, 


THE  TRAGEDY  AT  THE  COLONIAL        105 

for  an  answer  to  the  enigma  before  him,  that 
he  whispered  to  Sergeant  Nulty: 

"Leave  the  doctor  and  me  with  the  patient. 
We  will  make  an  examination.  Clear  the 
room.  Find  out  what  you  can  around  the 
hotel.  You  can't  do  anything  here  now,  and 
I  will  call  you  if  you  are  wanted." 

The  house  physician,  who  was  interested  in 
the  medical  rather  than  the  criminal  aspects 
of  the  case,  saw  with  relief  the  execution  of 
this  order,  and  the  instant  the  door  closed  on 
the  heels  of  the  last  of  the  departing  group 
he  questioned  Dr.  Furnivall  eagerly: 

"What  is  this?  I  have  never  seen  any- 
thing just  like  it.  There  are  right  hemiplegia  and 
asphasia,  shouldn't  you  say?  And  word-deaf- 
ness undoubtedly,  as  well  as  word-blindness. 
Look  at  her  face.     She  is  suffering  intensely." 

"No,  she  suffers  little,"  returned  Dr.  Furni- 
vall. "The  contortion  of  the  nerves  is  a  reflex. 
There  is  more  than  fright  in  this.  Still,  she 
is  not  insane.  She  is  numb.  Something  is 
pressing  into  that  woman's  brain — a  tumor, 
perhaps,  invading  the  superior  or  middle  tem- 
poral convolutions." 

His  colleague  looked  surprised. 

"Do  you  think  so?  Well,  that  would  surely 
account  for  it  all.     But  in  that  case -" 

He  paused  meaningly. 

"No,"  answered  Dr.  Furnivall;  "not  neces- 
sarily fatal,  I  feel  assured.    An  operation " 

"  But  such  an  operation  never  has  been  done!" 

"True.  But  it  is  the  only  chance.  And 
I  am  sure  it  is  feasible.     Her  constitution  is 


K>6    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

more  than  strong;  it  is  robust.  With  good 
fortune  she  would  bear  it  well.  Get  the  consent 
of  her  relatives;  call  in  Myers  and  Whewill 
and  let's  hear  what  they  say." 

The  young  doctor's  face  brightened. 

"Good!  I'll  do  it  at  once,"  he  answered 
with  alacrity,  t*nd  started  for  the  door.  But  he 
had  scarcely  disappeared  when  Dr.  Furnivall, 
having  possessed  himself  of  the  prescription 
paper  behind  the  bed,  came  hastening  after  him. 

"I  have  a  message  to  telephone,"  he  said, 
"and  I  might  call  up  our  friends  as  well.  By 
the  way,  did  you  know  this  Mr.  Seavey,  or 
anything  about  him?    Had  he  enemies?" 

"No,  I  didn't  know  him,  except  by  sight. 
But,"  he  continued,  reflectively,  "let's  see — 
there  was  something — oh,  yes,  I  remember, 
Dr.  Jason  was  treating  him  for  Meniere's  dis- 
ease. I  recall  that  he  bragged  of  the  great 
fees  his  specialist  charged.  He  was  that  kind 
of  man." 

"Meniere's  disease!"  murmured  Dr.  Furni- 
vall, as  he  stepped  into  the  telephone  box. 
"Good!  Count  number  one  on  the  theory  of 
innocence  I" 

He  did  not  elucidate  this  cryptic  remark 
to  himself,  but  after  summoning  the  consulting 
physicians  by  'phone,  rang  up  Dr.  Wellington's 
office. 

"Hello!  Is  Dr.  Wellington  there?  This  is 
Dr.  Furnivall,  at  the  Colonial  Hotel." 

"Why,  no!  He  is  himself  at  the  Colonial 
Hotel.  He  had  a  call  from  there  a  little  while 
ago." 


THE  TRAGEDY  AT  THE  COLONIAL         107 

"Who  is  this  answering?" 

"The  parior  maid." 

"Is  Mrs.  Wellington  at  home?" 

"No,  sir.  She  has  been  away  a  week  in 
the  country — at  her  mother's." 

He  hung  up  the  receiver.  There  was  no 
help  to  be  had  from  that  quarter.  Dr.  Wel- 
lington had  certainly  been  in  that  gruesome 
room  of  the  Seaveys';  had  roared  in  his  lion 
bass  to  somebody,  "You  dog!  You  ought  to 
be  kicked  out  of  the  window!"  and  had  suddenly 
disappeared.  Why?  Had  he  become  insane 
and  committed  a  crime?  Or  was  he  sane  and 
innocent?    In  either  case  he  had  fled.     Why? 

"It  bates  the  diviU"  said  Sergeant  Nulty, 
approaching  the  doctor.  "Here  is  wan  man 
coomes  in  this  house  as  bould  as  ye  plaze,  gets 
another  wan  by  the  whiskers,  or  by  the  collar, 
or  whativer,  and  calls  him  names  in  a  voice 
like  a  bull  fer  the  stren'th  of  it,  walks  him 
Spanish  acrosst  the  flure,  trows  him  half  a 
block  out  of  the  windy,  spits  on  his  hands, 
trows  out  his  chest,  and  drops  down  tin  flights 
and  out,  and  the  divil  a  sowl  but  wan  in  the 
place  lays  eye  on  him  from  shtart  to  finish! 
In  the  ould  country,  thim  fanes  did  those 
things,  so  'tis  said,  so  it  is.  But  'twas  no  fary 
done  this  thrick.  He  had  whiskers.  Thot 
maid  woman  seen  him  anyhow.  We've  his 
description,  all  right.  And  we'll  get  him. 
But  phwat  is  the  good  of  eyes  if  ye  can't  see 
wid  them,  begob,  a  man  six  feet,  and  begob, 
wid  whiskers,  going  up  tin  flures  and  thin 
down  agin,  and  out,  and  lanin'  jist  over  Casey's 


Xo8    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

bar  and  smilin'  insultin'  on  the  crowds  rushin' 
around  the  corner  in  pursoot  of  him,  and 
wushin'  thim  slanther  in  Casey's  three  X!" 

"You  have  learned  nothing?"  asked  the 
doctor. 

"Divil  a  word!  The's  too  many  men  wid 
whiskers  round  this  place.  Oi  dunno  how 
it  bees,  but  wan  man  wid  whiskers  is  the  livin' 
image  of  ivery  other  wan  wid  thim.  They're 
loike  the  Chinks.  Can  yez  tell  thim  apart? 
You  cannot.  Naw,  sir.  Not  if  youse  yerself 
was  wan  of  thim  and  the  other  was  yez  own 
brother.  Oi  do  be  waiting  now  for  wor-rd  from 
the  tilephone  cintral  gir-rl  that  connicted  Mrs. 
Seavey  wid  the  docther.  She  moight  remimber 
the  number.  But  she's  gone  home.  Well, 
there  it  is!  Always  soomthing  to  putt  a  pebble 
in  yez  shoe!"  And  the  siergeant,  much  exer- 
cised over  his  failure  to  make  any  progress  in 
the  case,  turned  away  in  the  direction  of  the 
telephone.  But  he  stopped  again  and  asked: 
"Phwat's  doin'?"  jerking  his  thumb  signifi- 
cantly. 

"I  should  say  there  will  be  an  operation 
on  her  at  once." 

"WiU  she  shpake  thin?" 

"I  don't  think  I  should  like  to  question 
her  for  a  day  or  two.  It  will  depend  on  how 
she  comes  through.  But  I  will  notify  the  office 
in  time,  for  I  want  a  couple  of  you  to  hear  what 
she  has  to  say  when  she  does  talk.     And,  Nulty 

"  he  whispered  in  his  ear,  "don't  disturb 

yourself  about  that  doctor.     He  didn't  do  it; 
it   was   an   accident."     And   he   walked   away. 


TOE  TRAGEDY  AT  THE  COLONIAL         X09 

leaving  the  sergeant  struck  speechless  with 
amazement. 

The  two  famous  surgeons,  having  arrived 
and  made  their  examinations  of  the  patient,  at 
once  expressed  themselves  as  opposed  to  an 
operation. 

"Why?"  asked  Dr.  Furnivall. 

"It  never  has  been  attempted,  for  one 
reason." 

Here  ensued  a  long  technical  discussion, 
the  result  of  which  was  that  the  balance  hung 
so  even  between  the  arguments  for  and  against 
that  no  positive  decision  could  be  reached. 
Then  Dr.  Furnivall  played  his  last  card. 

"Gentlemen,"  said  he,  "we  must  admit  all 
the  reasons  that  have  been  given  here  why  this 
operation  should  not  be  attempted.  We  must- 
admit  all  those  likewise  on  the  other  side;  and 
we  find  the  chances  of  success  and  failure  so 
nearly  even  that,  speaking  generally,  the  weight 
would  be  thrown  on  the  negative,  and  all 
thoughts  of  the  knife  abandoned.  It  would  be 
too  full  of  risk,  But,  aside  from  the  fact  that 
I  myself  feel  strongly  that  an  operation  is  the 
only  means  of  saving  the  patient's  sanity,  if  not 
her  very  life  itself;  aside  from  the  fact  that  I 
am  willing  to  pledge  my  professional  reputation 
on  the  success  of  an  operation  performed  by 
me  with  your  assistance,  on  the  tumor  or  what- 
ever it  is  that  I  believe  is  invading  this  brain, 
either  in  the  superior  or  middle  temporal  con- 
volutions— aside  from  all  this,  I  have  another 
reason  to  offer,  which,  I  feel  sure,  must  appeal 
to  you.    It  is  this:    The  fame,  and  even  the. 


ISO   EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

life  itself,  of  one  of  our  number,  depend  on 
this  patient's  sanity.  Without  the  surgery  she 
certainly  never  can  recover,  and  she  may  die. 
In  that  case  a  man  you  all  know  well  and 
highly  respect  must,  as  far  as  I  can  see  into 
the  future,  pay  the  penalty  of  a  crime  of  which 
he  was  innocent,  and  the  penalty  is  death. 
With  the  surgery  she  will  recover,  I  firmly 
believe,  and  will  save  him  by  her  evidence. 
Even  at  the  worst,  she  will  be  as  well  off  after 
as  before  the  trial,  unless  undreamed  of  con- 
ditions prevaiL  There  is  the  case,  gentlemen. 
The  affair  of  our  friend  should  not  bias  us  to 
do  to  this  patient  what  we  should  not  do,  but  it 
cannot  lack  weight  in  these  delicate  circum- 
stances, and  I  for  one  am  obliged  to  confess 
that  it  bears  me,  all  things  considered,  irre- 
sistibly in  the  direction  of  the  operation.  It 
is  not  a  question  of  professional  ethics  with 
me,  for  I  should  advise  the  trial,  though  there 
were  no  outside  influences.  I  am  sure  of  suc- 
cess. With  you  it  may  not  be  so,  but  I  beg  you 
to  consider  well  what  I  have  said.  There  is 
the  gendeman  you  will  save  by  deciding  as  I 
have  done." 

He  threw  the  crumpled  prescription  on  the 
table  before  them  as  he  spoke,  and  as  one 
man  the  group  cried: 

"Wellington?    Impossible!" 

"Yes,  impossible,  indeed!  But  it  is  he  who 
is  now  filling  the  role  of  the  mysterious  doctor, 
nevertheless.  I  called  up  his  house  and  learned 
that  he  had  left  there  for  this  hotel.  In  the 
janitor's  description  of  the  voices  I  recognize 


THE  TRAGEDY  AT  THE  COLONIAL    in 

his.  I  found  this  paper  on  the  floor  beside 
the  bed.  What  happened  here  we  can  hardly 
conjecture.  But  of  this  I  am  certain,  as  I 
know  we  all  of  us  are,  that  our  friend  and 
comrade,  Charles  Wellington,  the  tenderest, 
warmest  hearted,  most  upright  of  men,  never 
wantonly  or  in  anger  or  maliciously  pushed  a 
man  from  a  ten-story  window.  The  mystery 
in  the  case  is  where  can  he  be?  What  is  he 
hiding  for?  Or  is  he  hiding?  Perhaps  some 
accident  has  also  overtaken  him.  These  mat- 
ters, however,  I  engage  to  clear  up  later.  At 
present  our  duty  is  to  our  patient." 

It  was  a  long  struggle.  Each  of  these  men 
with  his  professional  honor  at  stake  stood  to 
the  last  ditch  for  his  opinion.  But  finally  Dr. 
Fumivall's  counsel  prevailed.  The  operation 
was  performed  with  perfect  success,  a  clot  of 
Uood  being  found  on  and  removed  from  the 
superior  temporal  convolution,  and  the  patient 
was  pronounced  sane  and  out  of  danger. 

When  she  was  strong  enough  to  relate  the 
story  of  the  tragedy  she  said,  in  the  presence 
of  several  witnesses,  including  Sergeant  Nulty, 
her  eyes  on  Dr.  FurnivaU's:  "I  called  Dr. 
Wellington  for  my  nerves.  I  did  not  know 
there  was  anything  dse  the  matter  with  me, 
but  he  saw  at  once  that  it  was  something  more 
than  nerves.  While  he  was  examining  me  my 
husband  came  in.  He  had  been  drinking. 
He  knew  nothing  of  my  having  a  doctor,  and 
when  he  saw  us  he  flew  into  a  passion,  not 
understanding  the  case,  charging  me  with 
horrible  things.     Dr.  Wellington  resented  the 


iia    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

tone  Mr.  Seavey  took,  and  cried  out  to  him 
that  he  was  a  brute  to  talk  so  to  his  wife,  and 
that  he  deserved  a  kicking.  My  husband  was 
standing  by  the  window,  which  was  open,  and 
suddenly  he  pitched  over " 

"One  moment,"  Dr.  Furnivall  interrupted. 
"Was  your  husband  being  treated  for  any 
disease?" 

"Yes,  Meniere's  disease." 

"Gentlemen,"  said  Dr.  Furnivall  to  the 
listening  circle,  but  without  moving  his  gaze 
from  the  invalid's  eyes,  "remember  the  symp-. 
toms  of  Meniere's  disease — intense  and  parox- 
ysmal aural  vertigo,  coming  suddenly — Proceed, 
madam." 

"My  husband  fell  in  such  a  way  that  he 
pitched  through  the  window.  Dr.  Wellington, 
with  a  cry  of  horror,  rushed  forward  with 
outstretched  arms  to  save  him,  but  could  not 
get  a  good  hold  on  him.  This  is  all  I  remember. 
I  must  have  fainted  then  with  the  terror  of  it. " 

Dr.  Furnivall  turned  to  the  witnesses. 
"The  only  thing  that  seems  to  be  lacking," 
he  said,  "is  the  reason  why  Dr.  Wellington 
ran  away " 

At  that  very  moment  the  door  opened  and 
in  walked  a  bearded  man,  who  said,  calmly: 

"I  will  tell  you  that." 

"Wellington!"  cried  Dr.  Furnivall,  grasping 
his  hand. 

"I  have  come  to  give  myself  up  now,  if  I 
am  wanted,  since  my  wife  is  out  of  danger." 

"Ah,"  Dr.  Furnivall  exclaimed,  as  if  en- 
lightened at  once.     "Give  us  the  details." 


THE  TRAGEDY  AT  THE  COLONIAL         113 

"As  I  came  down  my  steps  yesterday  on 
the  way  to  answer  Mrs.  Seavey's  summons,  a 
message  was  handed  me  informing  me  that 
my  wife,  who  had  been  in  the  country  for  some 
days,  was  down  critically  with  pneumonia. 
Of  course,  I  should  drop  everything  else  to  go 
to  her.  But  knowing  that  the  next  train  would 
not  leave  for  over  an  hour  I  saw  that  I  should 
have  time  to  come  here,  and  I  did  so.  When 
the  accident  happened  and  I  hurried  down  to 
the  sidewalk,  finding  the  crowd,  I  should  have 
waited  and  explained,  and  have  willingly  given 
myself  up,  but  for  one  reason.  It  would  pre- 
vent me  from  hastening  to  my  wife,  who  was 
at  death's  door.  I  could  not  bring  myself  to 
that.  Seeing  that  I  could  do  no  good  I  simply 
went  away — to  her.  She  is  safe  now,  and 
seeing  by  the  papers  that  I  was  wanted " 

"Is  he  wanted,  sergeant?"  smiled  Dr. 
Furnivall. 

"Not  be  me,  not  be  me,  not  be  mel"  re- 
peated Sergeant  Nulty,  awakening  from  the 
trance  of  disgust  in  which  he  had  listened  to 
the  evidence.  "Begob,"  he  muttered,  as,  with 
an  air  of  injured  virtue  added  to  his  usual 
dignity  of  deportment,  he  marched  out  of  the 
room,  "begob,  men  is  all  goats  these  days. 
Goats  wid  whiskers!  Accidents,  accidents,  ac- 
cidents! They  have  none  of  them  the  shtufif 
in  thim  to  kill  a  man.  The  good  old  times  is 
gone.  No  chanct  for  promotion!  I'll  die  a 
sergeant.    Well,  well,  well!" 


Mrs.  Wortley's  Secret 


MRS.  WORTLEVS  SECRET 

Through  the  driving  snow  blizzard  in  the 
early  morning  the  milk  boy  plowed  his  way 
up  the  steps  of  the  dilapidated  Wortley  man- 
sion, opened  the  outer  door,  stepped  into  the 
narrow  vestibule,  and  rang  sharply  the  old- 
fashioned  bell.  Ordinarily  he  then  would  have 
deposited  a  bottle  of  milk  on  the  floor,  picked 
up  the  "empty"  that  had  been  set  out  over 
night,  and  departed  with  the  cheerful  bang 
and  clatter  that  has  been  anathema  to  good 
sleepers  since  the  days  of  Aristophanes;  but 
this  time  there  was  a  variation  of  the  program. 
He  waited.  Handling  his  basket  of  unstable 
bottles  with  as  much  care  as  if  they  were  eggs, 
he  placed  it  silently  in  a  corner,  and  with  hunched 
shoulders,  ear  to  the  keyhole,  a  determined 
expression  on  his  blowzy  young  face,  he  appeared 
to  be  listening  intently  to  the  gradually  dimin- 
ishing jingle  jingle  of  his  summons  away  down 
in  the  basement  kitchen. 

Refraining,  for  reasons  of  his  own,  from 
advertising  the  fact  that  he  was  still  on  the  spot 
by  a  second  pull  at  the  knob,  he  crouched  in 
this  attitude  long  after  the  tongue  of  the  bell 
had  ceased  its  musical  clangor.  It  was  fully 
five  minutes  before  he  moved  as  much  as  an 
eyelid.  Then  he  suddenly  gathered  himself, 
held  his  breath,  and,  as  the  door  opened  a  crack, 
pushed  it  wide,  and  stepped  triumphantly  in. 


ii8    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

"There!"  he  exclaimed  with  satisfaction. 

"Lord  a  massy!  What's  all  this?"  cried  a 
thin,  cracked  voice. 

The  hall  was  dusky,  but  the  boy  could  see 
that  an  old  woman  of  untidy  appearance  stood 
staring  dazedly  at  him,  her  hand  on  the  knob 
of  the  door  which  he  had  closed  on  entering. 
He  gave  a  short,  sneering  chuckle.  Then  he 
began  laboriously  to  unbutton  his  many  layered 
wrapping  of  heavy  clothing. 

"This  here  little  bill,"  he  said,  producing 
and  handing  it  to  the  woman,  "has  run  three 
months,  an'  every  time  the  old  man  comes 
round  for  it  it's  twenty-three  for  him.  Skiddoo! 
Nobuddy  t'  home.  See?  I  want  th'  money. 
I  want  it  now.  An'  I'll  get  it,  too,  afore  I'll 
leave,  or  I'll  h'ist  out  th'  furniture." 

"Well,  good  Lord!"  exclaimed  the  woman, 
who,  though  plainly  of  a  meek  disposition,  was 
roused  to  some  degree  of  self-assertion  by  this 
open  attack.  "If  you  want  your  money  I 
guess  you  can  have  it.  You  needn't  tear  my 
head  off.  I  don't  owe  you  anything.  It's  Mrs. 
Wortley,  and  she's  worth  a  million  dollars. 
You  step  over  here  away  from  her  door  and 
I'll  tell  her." 

The  boy  jeered  at  the  mention  of  this  mag- 
nificent sum.  It  was  easy  enough  to  call  any- 
body a  millionaire.  Anybody.  She  might  call 
him  one  if  she  wanted  to.  But  her  manner 
presaged  success  for  his  mission,  and,  some- 
what mollified,  he  stood  back  by  the  stairs 
while  the  woman  rapped  gently  at  the  parlor 
door. 


MRS.  WORTLEY'S  SECRET  119 

"Mrs.  Wortleyl"  she  cried,  not  too  loudly. 
There  was  no  answer. 

"Mrs.  Wortley!  Mrs.  Wortley!  The  milk- 
man is  here  and  wants  to  see  you  I"  This 
time  the  voice  was  stronger,  but  there  came  no 
sound  from  within.  She  waited  a  moment  and 
then  rattled  the  door  knob.  Still  no  response. 
"She  must  be  fast  asleep.  She  doesn't  like 
to  be  woke  up — can't  you  come  again 
when " 

"Oh,  sure!"  he  interrupted,  with  a  world 
of  expression.  All  his  doubts  and  determina- 
tion were  rearoused  by  these  signs  of  tricks, 
with  the  winding  and  complex  patterns  of  which 
he  was  on  intimate  terms.  "Oh,  sure,  I'll 
come  agin'.  An'  I'll  stay  right  here  till  I  do, 
too.  You  sure  got  a  lead  pipe  cinch  on  me  in 
this  deal,  mommer.  Me  ?  Why,  you  never  see 
me  out  when  the  dew  is  falling.  Some  rude 
creature  might  accost  me." 

With  the  explosion  of  this  bomb  of  sarcasm, 
picked  up  last  night  at  the  dime  museum,  he 
grinned  delightedly,  sat  down  on  the  stairs, 
and  leaned  comfortably  against  the  wall  as  if 
he  would  be  happy  to  remain  there  for  any 
indefinite  period. 

"If  that  ain't  killin'!"  muttered  the  woman 
in  disgust  and  indignation.  She  stood  ir- 
resolutely, looking  at  him.  "Well,"  she  said, 
after  a  moment,  "I'll  go  in  through  the  other 
room  and  wake  her  up,  but  you  won't  get  any 
thanks  for  making  me  do  it,  I  can  tell  you. 
And  it's  the  last  milk  you'll  ever  bring  into  this 
house  in  the  bargain." 


I20    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

"Huh!"  he  sniffed.  "Good  thing,  too! 
Swappin'  milk  fer  wind!" 

He  watched  warily  as  she  went  down  the  hall 
to  a  sort  of  cabinet  built  against  the  wall,  with 
a  set  washbowl  in  it,  put  her  hand  in,  and 
from  a  corner  of  a  high  shelf  produced  a  key,- 
with  which  she  let  herself  into  the  rear  parlor. 
Then  he  rose  and  softly  followed  her.  Rolling 
back  a  little  one  of  the  great  folding  doors 
between  the  two  rooms,  she  thrust  her  head 
into  the  spectral  gloom  beyond  and  again 
called  "Mrs.  Wortley!"  and  still  there  was  no 
movement  or  sound  in  response.  Suddenly 
she  began  to  sniff. 

"Why,  that's  chloroform!"  the  boy  behind 
heard  her  exclaim  in  a  startled  whisper. 

He  crept  forward,  a  vague  sense  of  some- 
thing strange  impelling  him,  and  with  eyes 
younger  than  those  of  the  woman  searched  the 
dim  interior  over  her  shoulder. 

"Kinder  topsy-turvey,  ain't  it?"  he  com- 
mented under  his  breath. 

She  did  not  resent  his  presence  staring  there 
into  her  mistress'  bedroom.  On  the  contrary, 
she  flung  her  hand  with  a  quick,  backward 
movement  on  his  arm,  as  if  to  reassure  herself 
that  she  was  not  alone.  Then  she  went  in 
swiftly,  paused,  and  with  a  sudden  low  cry 
threw  herself  down  upon  the  bed,  clasping  in 
her  arms  the  still  form  that  lay  there. 

The  boy  gazed  a  moment  with  wide  eyes, 
taking  in  the  significance  of  the  scene.  Then 
he  withdrew,  set  the  spring  lock  on  the  front 
door,  and  at  the  top  of  his  speed  splashed  and 


MRS.  WORTLEY'S  SECRET  sax 

floundered  through  the  drifts  to  the  police  sta- 
tion a  block  away. 

The  woman  still  lay  in  speechless  grief  on 
the  body  of  her  mistress  when  the  officers 
arrived,  and  they  found  considerable  difficulty 
in  removing  her,  so  that  an  examination  of  the 
corpse  could  be  made.  Finally  they  succeeded 
in  placing  her  in  an  easy  chair,  where  she  sat 
with  every  sign  of  despairing  sorrow  on  her 
wrinkled  face,  and  without  appearing  to  take 
any  interest  in  what  was  going  on  answered 
apathetically  such  questions  as  were  put  to  her. 

As  soon  as  the  shades  were  raised,  letting 
daylight  into  the  room,  the  first  thing  the  officers 
noticed  was  that  the  dead  woman  was  bound, 
and  in  a  most  curious  manner.  Instead  of 
being  lashed  together  with  cords  the  limbs  were 
carried,  each  wrist  and  each  ankle  to  its  side 
of  the  bedstead,  and  there  tied  firmly  with 
strips  torn  from  the  upper  sheet,  the  remains 
of  which  hung  over  the  foot  rail  with  the  other 
bedclothing. 

"That  is  what  I  call  queer,"  whispered  one 
of  the  policemen  to  the  other,  who  nodded, 
staring.  The  ambulance  surgeon  came  hurry- 
ing in  at  the  moment,  and  the  three  stood 
gazing  an  instant  without  a  word  at  the  singu- 
lar spectacle. 

The  body  was  that  of  a  beautiful  woman  of 
30,  of  the  pronounced  brunette  type,  with  full 
lips,  great  black  eyes,  wide  and  glazed  now, 
the  form  of  a  sylph,  and  a  wealth  of  lustrous 
black  hair  that  lay  tumbled  over  the  pillows. 
The  skilled  glance  of  the  physician,  however, 


122    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

immediatel/  detected  signs  of  dissipation  in 
the  lovely  face.  He  saw,  too,  that  one  of  the 
eyebrows  was  scorched  as  with  recent  fire,  and 
that  the  forehead  and  left  cheek  were  marked 
with  slight  bums,  which  must  have  been 
inflicted  within  a  few  hours.  An  eight  ounce 
bottle  containing  a  little  chloroform  lay  with- 
out a  stopper  on  the  bed  by  her  side,  its  neck 
raised  on  the  pillow. 

"Beats  me,"  whispered  one  of  the  police- 
men. 

"It  looks  like  asphyxiation  by  chloroform," 
said  the  physician.  "But  we'll  see  about  that 
later.     She's  gone,  any  way." 

The  officers  then  began  a  search  of  the 
premises. 

The  upper  drawer  of  the  bureau  had  been 
pulled  out,  ransacked,  and  thrown  on  the 
floor,  the  jewel  boxes  on  the  dressing  case  were 
empty,  an  oil  painting  had  been  cut  out  of  its 
frame,  and  the  gold  watch  which,  the  woman 
said,  always  hung  on  the  bedpost  at  night,  was 
missing.  This  seemed  to  be  the  extent  of  the 
property  loss,  though  there  was  a  great  roll  of 
bank  bills  in  the  second  drawer  of  the  bureau, 
which  had  not  been  opened,  apparently,  a 
closet  was  half  filled  with  beautiful  and  costly 
gold  and  silverware,  a  clock  covered  with 
jewels,  small  enough  for  easy  removal,  still 
ticked  on  the  mantel,  and  the  two  rooms  were 
crowded  to  profusion  with  all  sorts  of  elegant 
and  expensive  nick-nacks.  The  officers  were 
comparing  notes  on  this  unexpected  state  of 
affairs  when  a  surprised  exclamation  from  the 


MRS.  WORTLEY'S  SECRET  123 

physician,   who   was   bending   over   the   body, 
brought  them  hastily  to  his  side. 

"See  there!"  he  said,  pointing  to  the  bonds 
where  they  were  fastened  to  the  bed. 

The   policemen   scanned   them   interestedly. 

"They're  surgeon's  knots,"  the  doctor  said: 
"the  kind  a  surgeon  ties.  No  common  burglar 
did  this  job." 

The  officers  looked  at  each  other  quickly. 

"There's  ain't  a  winder  or  door  on  this 
floor,"  said  one,  "that  ain't  locked,  except  the 
way  we  come  in.  And  the  milk  feller  says 
that  was  locked,  too,  and  the  woman  got  the 
key  to  it  out  of  this  cupboard  here.  It  looks 
queer,  Jack — this  body  tied  in  here  alone  and 
everything  locked  up  all  snug." 

"It  sure  does,  Cale.  The  housekeeper  says 
nobody  lives  here  but  Dr.  Wortley  and  his  wife 
and  her,  and  the  milkman  swears  there  wa'n't 
no  signs  in  the  snow  of  anybody's  goin'  out. 
Not  a  track  before  his.  And  it  snowed  all 
night." 

"Dr.  Wortley!"  exclaimed  the  physician. 
"You  don't  mean — you  can't  mean,  that  this 
is  the  house  of  Dr.  Brownall  Wortley — that 
this  was  his  wife?" 

"That's  just  what!"  returned  Cale,  shaking 
his  head  as  if  he  were  sorry  for  it. 

The  younger  physician  scrutinized  the  face 
of  the  dead  with  a  new  interest.  So  this  was 
the  woman!  Lying  there!  Well,  well,  well! 
He  had  never  known  Dr.  Wortley  personally, 
but  his  history  was  one  of  the  traditions  of 
the    profession    in    the    city.     A    millionaire 


x«4    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

bachelor,  famous  for  his  surgical  skill,  enjoy- 
ing an  enormous  practice,  and,  of  an  old  New 
England  family,  welcome  to  the  innermost 
circles  of  society  throughout  the  land,  he  had 
thrown  his  glove  in  the  face  of  custom  and 
tradition  and  turned  his  back  on  the  obviously 
correct  thing  by  marrying  a  shop  girl.  He 
was  50,  cultivated,  handsome,  rich;  she  was 
20,  uncultured,  fascinatingly  beautiful,  and 
squalidly  poor.  The  act  plunged  him  into 
such  a  hornet's  nest  of  surprise,  detraction, 
and  downright  abuse,  especially  from  the 
mothers  of  marriageable  daughters  in  his  own 
set,  that  he  was  sorely  stung,  and,  at  first 
bewildered.  He  could  not  see  why  his  mar- 
riage with  anybody  should  interest  the  world, 
and  when  one  day  a  newspaper  reporter  called 
to  interview  him  he  told  him  so.  But,  he 
added,  since  the  world,  for  some  reason  or 
other,  indubitably  seemed  interested,  he  begged 
to  inform  it  that  this  young  gentlewoman, 
who  was  now  his  wife,  had  been  brought  into 
this  life  by  him,  as  the  attending  physician; 
that  he  had  followed  every  phase  of  her  exist- 
ence from  that  dav  to  this;  that  he  knew  her 
to  the  soul;  found  her  so  superior  to  every 
other  woman,  in  any  class  of  society,  whether 
it  were  a  question  of  character  or  body,  mind 
or  heart,  that  for  him  she  was  the  one  woman; 
that  they  loved  each  other;  and,  finally,  that, 
since  the  fact  that  she  was  poor  while  he  was 
rich  appeared  to  form  the  nucleus  around 
which  the  storm  of  disapproval  howled,  he 
should  gladly  remove  it — in  short,  he  should 


MRS.  WORTLEY'S  SECRET  zas 

this  day  make  over  all  his  property  to  his  wife, 
so  that  now  the  conditions  were  reversed,  and 
it  was  a  case  of  poor  man  and  rich  wife.  Per- 
haps his  solicitious  friends,  the  smart  set, 
would  care  to  express  their  exceedingly  val- 
uable and  interesting  opinions  on  that  sort 
of  a  union! 

Whether  this  attitude  of  his  closed  the 
hitherto  widely  opened  doors  of  society  against 
him,  or  whether  he  had  already,  before  the 
marriage,  resolved  upon  his  course,  certain  it 
was  that  he  threw  up  his  practice  immediately 
and  accompanied  his  young  and  beautiful  wife 
abroad.  For  five  years  little  was  heard  of 
them  in  their  native  city,  except  that  now  and 
then  some  wanderer  far  afield  brought  tidings 
of  them  from  out  of  the  way  places — now  a 
little  village  in  Switzerland,  by  and  by  a  modest 
hotel  in  Italy,  a  farm  house  in  Scotland,  one  of 
the  islands  of  Japan,  or,  in  India,  a  villa  in 
the  hill  country.  They  evidently  traveled  ex- 
tensively, yet  wherever  they  were  found  it  was 
always  in  the  peace  of  seclusion,  undisturbed 
by  the  fret  and  hurry  of  gregarious  humanity, 
their  life  streams  blended  into  one  happy, 
flowing  river  of  love  and  content. 

Then  suddenly,  in  a  night  as  it  seemed,  the 
rumors  changed  ominously.  Something  mys- 
terious had  come  between  these  ideal  married 
lovers.  It  was  now  only  the  husband  who 
lived  apart  from  the  whirlpool  of  society, 
while  the  lovely  young  wife  threw  herself  into 
the  swirling  current  with  extravagant  abandon. 
The  polish  which,  in  their  five  years  of  intimacy, 


126    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

the  accomplished  man  of  the  world  had  been 
able  to  impart  to  his  girl  wife,  the  wealth  he 
had  lavished  upon  her,  his  name,  and  her 
own  beauty  and  vivacity,  opened  the  doors  of 
social  recognition  to  her  on  the  instant  she 
tapped  for  admittance,  and,  entering  with  a 
dash,  she  disported  herself  in  a  manner  so 
reckless  that  her  name  was  soon  on  every- 
body's lips.  Her  flirtations  were  uncounted, 
scandalous,  audaciously  open;  her  style  of 
living  ruinous  even  for  a  possessor  of  ten  times 
her  wealth;  she  dressed  loudly,  looked  fre- 
quently on  the  wine  cup,  and,  while  the  doctor 
remained  strictly  in  the  privacy  of  his  own 
room,  she  never  appeared  at  home  except 
for  the  few  hours  of  sleep  she  was  obliged  to 
steal  each  morning  in  order  to  recuperate  for 
the  feverish  dance  of  the  day  and  night.  Her 
husband  she  seemed  to  hate.  Of  him  and  to 
him  her  speech  was  invariably  contemptuous, 
and  the  flash  of  her  black  eye  in  his  direction 
was  like  the  savage  cut  of  a  sword.  Oa  his 
part  he  paid  no  attention  to  her  any  longer. 
Her  fierce  glances  seemed  to  impress  him  not 
at  all.  He  answered  no  sharp  word  of  hers. 
He  never  even  looked  at  her,  or  seemed  con- 
scious of  her  existence,  all  his  interest  appar- 
ently being  confined  to  his  pipe,  his  food,  his 
bed,  and  the  scientific  literature  of  the  day. 

These  were  the  reports  which  for  several 
years  came  from  Europe,  chiefly  from  Paris, 
and  then  suddenly  the  scene  shifted  back  to 
America.  The  doctor,  looking  like  a  feeble 
octogenarian,  though   he   was   under   60,   had 


MRS.  WORTLEY'S  SECRET  la; 

been  seen  through  the  window  in  his  old  home- 
stead. In  various  ways  it  soon  leaked  out 
that  the  strange  couple  had  returned  and,  with 
an  old  housekeeper,  taken  up  their  abode  in 
the  decaying  mansion,  living  in  a  relation  to 
each  other  that  was  nothing  short  of  preposter- 
ous. Rumor  declared  that  the  wife  occupied 
the  two  great  rooms  on  the  ground  floor  and 
never  stirred  out  of  them;  he  lived  in  the  back 
attic  and  never  stirred  out  of  that,  while  the 
housekeeper  slept  in  the  basement,  carried  them 
their  meals,  took  what  little  care  of  the  house 
that  was  taken  at  all,  and  stood  as  the  buffer 
between  her  mistress  and  the  insistent  duns 
who,  in  due  season,  began  to  clamor  at  the 
front  door.  And  the  explanation  was  that,  the 
million  having  taken  wings,  the  foolish  wife 
and  deluded  husband  had  finally  immured 
themselves  here  to  drag  out  the  remainder  of 
their  days  in  self-sought  oblivion.  A  few  of 
his  former  friends  had  called  at  first,  but  were 
turned  away  without  a  sight  of  him,  and  from 
that  time  on  nobody  but  the  aged  servant  and 
the  tradesmen  had  been  observed  going  to  or 
from  the  house. 

This  story  flashed  instantly  through  the 
physician's  brain  as  he  sat  there  with  his  eyes 
on  the  woman  who  had  caused  it  all,  now 
cold  in  death,  her  earthly  pilgrimage  with  its 
strange  mystery  ended  suddenly  forever.  What 
that  mystery  was  never  would  be  known  now 
— ah,  but  now  it  most  certainly  would  be  known! 
The  doctor  would  tell  it  in  palliation  of  — 
palliation?     Yes,  or  justification,   what   might 


128    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

seem  justification  to  him.  For  there  was  but 
one  explanation  of  that  murder.  The  evidence 
all  pointed  to  it — the  locked  doors,  the  key 
whose  hiding  place  could  be  known  only  to 
an  inmate  of  the  house,  the  professional  knots, 
the  chloroform,  the  large  number  of  valu- 
ables left  untouched  and  the  few  taken  as  if 
to  send  suspicion  astray,  the  absence  of  foot- 
prints in  the  snow,  the  couple's  attitude  toward 
each  other,  and,  above  all,  the  great  secret  of 
the  estrangement!  There  was  no  other  way 
out  of  it.  It  was  written  as  plainly  in  the 
circumstances  as  if  it  had  been  carefully  set 
down  in  black  and  white.  Driven  to  despera- 
tion by  the  misery  into  which  she  had  plunged 
him,  and  most  likely  unhinged  in  mind,  he 
had  done  this  terrible  thing.  And  this  was 
the  end  of  him  as  for  her!  What  a  finish  for 
a  career  that  had  begun  and  for  twenty  years 
continued  so  brilliantly. 

*    *    *    * 

Dr.  Fumivall  was  eating  his  breakfast 
when  the  news  of  the  crime,  coupled  with  the 
request  from  the  prisoner  that  he  would  call 
upon  him,  was  brought  by  an  officer  of  the 
police  station;  and  a  few  minutes  later  he  sat 
face  to  face  with  the  man  he  so  highly  honored 
for  his  early  achievements,  and  whose  domestic 
tragedy  had  long  been  known  to  him  in  the 
version  current  in  the  profession.  He  found 
him,  as  reported,  an  old  man  in  appearance, 
with  hair  and  beard  perfectly  white,  a  stoop 
in  his  shoulders  as  of  care,  a  trembling  hand, 
and  the  pallid,  wrinkled  skin  of  fast  approach- 


MRS.  WORTLEY'S  SECRET  129 

ing  decrepitude.  The  eyes,  however,  were 
undimmed.  Black,  steady,  full  of  fire,  they 
might  have  been  those  of  a  person  of  30,  but, 
hidden  behind  gold  rimmed  spectacles,  and 
their  power  somewhat  veiled  by  curiously  puffed 
Uds,  which  gave  him  the  appearance  of  looking 
downward,  they  took  nothing  from  the  effect 
of  age,  unless  one  looked  directly  into  them. 

"I  requested  you  to  call.  Dr.  Fumivall," 
he  began,  speaking  evenly,  as  if  it  were  a 
matter  of  every  day  business,  "because  I  have 
heard  of  your  notable  successes  along  the  lines 
of  hypnotism,  and  in  the  interests  of  justice 

"     He  paused,  and  then  asked  abruptly, 

"Do  you  believe  I  am  guilty?" 

"No,"  said  Dr.  Fumivall  at  once.  And 
added:  "I  may  say  that  I  know  you  are 
innocent." 

"Your  reasons?"  The  question  shot  out  m 
the  tones  of  an  alert  man  of  affairs,  and  the 
black  eyes  examined  Dr.  Fumivall's  face  with 
suddenly  awakened  interest. 

"Because  you  are  not  a  bungler.  Accord- 
ing to  the  story  the  officer  told  me  on  the  way 
here,  every  sign  points  to  you,  and  you  only. 
If  you  had  committed  the  crime  it  would  not 
be  so.  Not  a  single  sign  would  indicate  your 
hand  in  the  tragedy.  Besides,  had  it  been  in 
you  to  do  it  at  all  you  would  have  done  it 
years  ago,  quietly  and  skillfully." 

"Ah!"  the  old  man  exclaimed.  "It  really 
seems  as  if  others  might  have  thought  of  that. 
But  no  matter.  What  I  wished  to  say  is  this: 
I  have  no  notion  who  the  criminal  is;  not  the 


130    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

least.  But  that  woman  at  the  house,  Mrs. 
Partridge,  may  be  able  to  tell  something  if  you 
can  make  her  talk.  There  was  some  bond 
between  my  wife  and  her.  I  don't  know  its 
nature,  but  it  was  very  strong.  They  used  to 
weep  in  each  other's  arms  every  day,  I  should 
think,  beginning  some  five  years  ago,  and  I 
never  knew  why,  but  it  was  evidently  some- 
thing terrible  to  them.  The  fact  may  have 
bearing  on  the  case.  It  is  the  only  thing  I 
know,  at  all  events,  and  I  would  suggest  inquiry 
in  that  field.  If  you  could  hypnotize  the  woman 
and  question  her  about  that  secret  of  theirs, 
maybe  her  answers  would  throw  light  on  the 
murder — if  it  be  a  murder." 

"What!    You  think " 

"Those  women  were  capable  of  any  bitter- 
ness toward  me.  She  might  have  died  a 
natural  death.  I  don't  know.  But  she  had 
trouble  with  her  heart.  And  this  other  woman 
would  not  hesitate  to  make  it  look  like  murder 
and  throw  the  appearance  of  guilt  on  me. 
But  what  upsets  the  theory  is  that  I  am  sure 
she  knows  nothing  of  tying  surgeon's  knots." 

"She  might  have  had  help." 

"Yes,  that  may  be.  Perhaps  that  is  it.  She 
has  no  initiative  of  her  own,  but  would  do  what 
she  was  told  to  do,  and  it  is  quite  within  the 
possibilities  that  all  this  was  arranged  between 
them  long  ago,  in  case  Mrs.  Wortley  should  die 
suddenly.  Her  health  was  in  a  very  delicate 
state,  and  I  fancy  she  had  for  two  years  expected 
to  go  off  suddenly  at  any  moment.  Yes,  they 
were  quite  capable  of  arranging  beforehand  to 


MRS.  WORTLEY'S  SECREx 


I3S 


und  it  in  the  possession  of  tht.t^d  this 
make  it  Jne  of  whom,  at  his  request,  she 
picion  to\ediately  in  to  the  housekeeper,  who 
most  ran(silence  at  her  mistress*  bedside,  neve>^ 
every  wfg  her  eyes  from  the  rigid  body.     She' 
strange'  answered  his  greeting  nor  seemed  aware 
shadov  presence  there.     The  officer,  who  had 
"V  great   things  of   Dr.   Fumivall's  occult 
ley's  ers,  and  remained  in  the  room  curious  to 
nivs'for  himself  some  starling  exhibition  of  them, 
iched  his  arm, and  shaking  his  head  whispered: 
ins  "  She  was  all  right  a  little  while  this  morning, 
dind  answered  everjrthing  we  asked  her.    But 
i^he  won't  say  no  more — took  stuffy!     Won't 
iopen  her  mouth,  no  matter  what  you  do." 
f      "Oh,  yes,  she   will!"   the  doctor  returned 
somewhat  grimly,    "Mrs.  Partridge,"  he  said 
to  her,  "did  you  ever  see  me  before?" 

She  looked  up  quickly  and  peered  at  him 
with  some  show  of   interest,  but  immediately 
moved  her  head  as  if  to  return  her  gaze  to  its 
former  direction.     She  moved  it  only  slightly, 
however.     Then  it  remained  fixed.     Her  weak 
eyes,  staring  into  his,  took  on  an  expression  of 
concentration  wholly  new  to    them,    and   she 
answered  in  an  emotionless  voice:     "No,  sir." 
"How  long  have  you  known  Mrs.  Wortley?" 
"Most  all  her  life." 
"What  relation  do  you  bear  to  her?" 
"I  ain't  any  relation.     Only  she  was  en- 
gaged to  be  married  to  my  son." 

"Married?  She  was  already  married. 
What  do  you  mean?  Tell  me  all  about  it. 
Begin  at  the  beginning." 


130    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETEC'j 

IVE 

least.    But   that   woman   at   the   houi. 
Partridge,  may  be  able  to  tell  somethir^^^^^^° 
can   make   her  talk.     There   was   sor.^ 
between  my  wife  and  her.     I  don't  iJ'  ^^^^^^ 
nature,  but  it  was  very  strong.     They  i    ^" 
weep  in  each  other's  arms  every  day,  I  C^^^^f 
think,  beginning  some  five  years  ago,  a^^^  * 
never  knew  why,  but  it  was  evidently  sc^^^^ 
thing  terrible  to  them.     The  fact   may   h^"^^ 
bearing  on  the  case.     It  is  the  only  thing' 
know,  at  all  events,  and  I  would  suggest  inquii 
in  that  field.     If  you  could  hypnotize  the  womal^* 
and  question  her  about  that  secret  of  theirs'.' 
maybe  her  answers  would  throw  light  on  the 
murder — if  it  be  a  murder." 

"What!    You  think " 

"Those  women  were  capable  of  any  bitter- 
ness toward  me.  She  might  have  died  a 
natural  death.  I  don't  know.  But  she  had 
trouble  with  her  heart.  And  this  other  woman 
would  not  hesitate  to  make  it  look  like  murder 
and  throw  the  appearance  of  guilt  on  me. 
But  what  upsets  the  theory  is  that  I  am  sure 
she  knows  nothing  of  tying  surgeon's  knots." 

"She  might  have  had  help." 

"  Yes,  that  may  be.  Perhaps  that  is  it.  She 
has  no  initiative  of  her  own,  but  would  do  what 
she  was  told  to  do,  and  it  is  quite  within  the 
possibilities  that  all  this  was  arranged  between 
them  long  ago,  in  case  Mrs.  Wortley  should  die 
suddenly.  Her  health  was  in  a  very  delicate 
state,  and  I  fancy  she  had  for  two  years  expected 
to  go  off  suddenly  at  any  moment.  Yes,  they 
were  quite  capable  of  arranging  beforehand  to 


MRS.  WORTLEY'S  SECREV-r  ,35 

He  found  it  in  the  possession  of  thtt^d  this 
officers,  one  of  whom,  at  his  request,  sht 
him  immediately  in  to  the  housekeeper,  who 
in  stony  silence  at  her  mistress'  bedside,  neve^vv 
removing  her  eyes  from  the  rigid  body.     She ' 
neither  answered  his  greeting  nor  seemed  aware 
of  his  presence  there.     The  officer,  who  had 
heard   great   things  of   Dr.   Fumivall's  occult 
powers,  and  remained  in  the  room  curious  to 
see  for  himself  some  starling  exhibition  of  them, 
touched  his  arm,  and  shaking  his  head  whispered : 

"  She  was  all  right  a  little  while  this  morning, 
and  answered  everything  we  asked  her.  But 
she  won't  say  no  more — took  stuffy!  Won't 
open  her  mouth,  no  matter  what  you  do." 

"Oh,  yes,  she  will!"  the  doctor  returned 
somewhat  grimly,  "Mrs.  Partridge,"  he  said 
to  her,  "did  you  ever  see  me  before?" 

She  looked  up  quickly  and  peered  at  him 
with  some  show  of  interest,  but  immediately 
moved  her  head  as  if  to  return  her  gaze  to  its 
former  direction.  She  moved  it  only  slightly, 
however.  Then  it  remained  fixed.  Her  weak 
eyes,  staring  into  his,  took  on  an  expression  of 
concentration  wholly  new  to  them,  and  she 
answered  in  an  emotionless  voice:     "No,  sir." 

"How  long  have  you  known  Mrs.  Wortley?" 

"Most  all  her  life." 

"What  relation  do  you  bear  to  her?" 

"I  ain't  any  relation.  Only  she  was  en- 
gaged to  be  married  to  my  son." 

"Married?  She  was  already  married. 
What  do  you  mean?  Tell  me  all  about  it. 
Begin  at  the  beginning." 


EXPLOT  ^  rs  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

least   -  "^-^  ^^^  James  and  her  worked  in  the  same 

Part'^  and  was  goin'  to  git  married  when  they 

^^j.  did   afford   it.      Then   Dr.   Wortley  wanted 

u.ier,   and  they  thought   she    better  take    him, 

for  she  said  he  was  an  old  man  and — and  would 

leave  her  a  lot  of  money  and  then  she  could 

have  James.    But  he  was  only  50.    She  thought 

that  was  old,  but  it  ain't.    And  he's  alive  yet. 

But  James  died  five  years  ago.     That  broke 

her  heart  and  mine,  too,  and  she  sent  for  me 

and  we've  lived  together  ever  since." 

"My  God!"  burst  involuntarily  from  Dr. 
Fumivall.  This,  then,  was  the  great  secret! 
He  thought  he  never  had  heard  so  ironical  a 
tragedy  put  in  so  few  words.  This  was  the 
girl  whom  Dr.  Wortley  had  watched  from 
infancy,  and  found  to  be  the  one  woman  in' 
the  world !  The  young  lover's  death,  which  was 
undoubtedly  what  the  cablegram  had  announced 
to  her,  upsetting  her  plans,  destroying  her 
hopes,  showing  that  all  her  duplicity  and  sac- 
rifice had  been  in  vain,  had  maddened  her,  and 
with  the  one  sided  logic  of  an  intensely  material- 
istic mind,  she  attributed  her  failure  and 
despair  to  her  devoted  victim.  Had  it  not  been 
for  him  all  this  never  would  have  occurred. 
And  he  should  pay  for  it!  Yes,  he  should  pay 
for  it  to  the  last  tittle — with  his  honor,  his  hap- 
piness, his  money,  the  very  decencies  of  life! 

The  policeman,  who  knew  only  enough  of 
the  story  to  blame  Dr.  Wortley's  lack  of  per- 
spicacity in  choosing  such  a  woman  for  his  wife, 
sniffed  cynically.  Dr.  Furnivall  resumed  his 
questions. 


MRS.  WORTLEY'S  SECRET  13S 

"Have  you  any  idea  who  committed  this 
crime?" 

"No,  I  haven't." 

"Who  besides  Dr.  Wortley  and  you  knew 
where  the  key  to  the  back  parlor  was  kept?" 

"Nobody.  And  the  doctor  didn't  know, 
either.  It  wasn't  ever  there  till  yesterday.  I 
stuck  it  in  there  myself." 

"Why?" 

"It  was  loose  in  the  lock  and  fallin'  out  all 
the  time.  I  had  to  go  in  that  way  a  good  deal, 
and  first  I  used  to  leave  it  in  the  door  daytimes, 
and  then  I  kept  it  in  my  pocket.  But  I  lost  it 
yesterday,  so  when  I  found  it  I  thought  I'd 
better  hide  it  In  the  cupboard." 

"When  did  you  put  it  in  there  last?" 

"It  was  9  o'clock  last  night.  She  wasn't 
feelin'  well  and  went  to  bed  about  8." 

"And  there  was  nobody  but  you  three  in 
the  house  at  that  time?" 

"No,  not  a  soul.  And  there  ain't  been  any- 
body but  us  in  the  house  sence  we  lived  here, 
except  the  water  inspector." 

"You  have  groceries  and  such  things  brought 
here,  don't  you?" 

"  Not  often.  I  go  to  the  store  myself  mostly. 
And  when  anything  is  brought  I  take  it  at  the 
door.  The  milkman  got  in  this  morning,  but 
he's  the  only  one." 

"You  have  no  callers,  any  of  you?" 

"No,  nobody  I  let  in." 

"Who  calls  and  is  not  let  in?" 

"Only  Fred  now.  People  used  to  come  for 
the  doctor,  but   I    always    told   'em   that   he 


136    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

didn't  want  to  see  'em,  and  so  they  don't 
come  any  more." 

"Who  is  Fred?" 

"My  son." 

"Another  son!  Does  Mrs.  Wortley  ever  see 
him?" 

"No.  But  she  gives  me  money  for  him. 
People  think  we're  poor,  but  we  ain't." 

"Has  he  been  here  lately?" 

"Not  for  two  weeks.  I  told  him  not  to 
come  again  till  he  was  sober.  Mrs.  Wortley 
wouldn't  give  him  any  more  money  to  buy 
liquor  with." 

"What  is  your  son's  business?" 

"He  drove  a  hack  last,  but  I  guess  he  ain't 
working  now." 

"What  did  he  do  before  that?" 

"  Oh,  different  things.  He  took  care  of  horses 
in  a  stable,  and  worked  in  a  grocery  store,  and 
was  a  bartender  once.  Then  he  was  a  waiter. 
But  mostly  he   drived   horses   for  somebody." 

"He  hasn't  ever  had  anything  to  do  with 
medicine,  has  he  ?  Did  he  ever  work  in  a  drug 
store?" 

"No,  not  that  I  know  of.  The  nearest  he 
ever  came  to  it  was  driving  the  hospital  ambu- 
lance. He  tried  nursing,  too,  but  didn't  like 
it,  and  went  back  on  the  team." 

"Where  does  he  live?" 

"22  Prospect  street." 

Dr.  Furnivall  scribbled  a  note  and  gave  it 
to  the  officer. 

"That  man  fits  all  the  circumstances,"  he 
whispered.     "As  soon  as  you  find  him  call  me 


MRS.  WORTLEY'S  SECRET  137 

up  on  the  telephone  and  then  take  him  to  your 
station." 

At  3  o'clock  that  afternoon  Dr.  Furnivail, 
responding  to  the  summons,  walked  into  sta- 
tion 15  and  found  a  short,  clean  shaven,  red 
faced,  shifty  looking  fellow,  about  28  years  old, 
protesting  to  the  lieutenant  that,  by  all  that 
was  holy,  though  he  was  Fred  Partridge,  and 
lived  at  22  Prospect  street,  this  was  the  first 
time  he  had  ever  heard  the  name  of  Wortley, 
He  knew  nothing  of  any  murder.  These 
officers,  he  said,  had  gone  to  his  boarding 
place,  and  not  finding  him  there,  had  searched 
the  whole  neighborhood  for  him,  which  was 
enough  to  give  a  man  a  bad  name  for  life,  and 
finally  coming  on  him  in  a  saloon,  among 
freinds  that  knew  him,  had  snapped  the  darbies 
on  him  for  murder.  Nice  way  to  treat  an 
honest  man  who  was  trying  to  earn  his  living 
without  sponging  on  anybody  for  it!  He 
didn't  even  know  what  street  the  murder  was 
done  in.  And  here  were  two  friends.  Con  and 
Ed,  who  were  with  him  when  he  was  arrested, 
and  could  swear  he  hadn't  been  out  of  their 
sight  since  yesterday  noon.  He  slept  with 
them  last  night  in  their  room,  three  in  a  bed. 

Two  men  standing  near  nodded. 

"That's  right,"  said  one  of  them  to  the  lieu- 
tenant. "We  had  a  free  lunch  yesterday  noon 
over  to  Tim  Nagle's  place,  an'  we  been  together 
ever  since,  lookin'  for  a  job." 

The  lieutenant's  face  wrinkled  derisively  as 
he  glanced  into  the  watery  eyes  of  the  friendly 
trio,  picturing  in  his  fancy  the  kind  of  job  they 


138    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

were  undoubtedly  looking  for.  Then  he  nodded 
to  Dr.  Fumivall,  who  came  forward  and  stood 
by  the  railing  close  to  Partridge. 

There  were  several  police  officers  in  the 
room,  and,  their  curiosity  sharpened  by  their 
comrade's  story  of  the  marvelous  results  ob- 
tained by  Dr.  Fumivall  that  day  from  the 
woman  who  wouldn't  speak,  they  watched  his 
every  move  with  absorbed  interest.  But  when, 
without  any  spectacular  waving  or  stroking  of 
the  hands,  such  as  they  had  always  associated 
in  their  minds  with  hypnotism,  without  the  pro- 
duction of  any  mysterious  machine,  or  even  a 
globe  of  magic  crystal,  he  simply,  in  an  ordi- 
nary tone,  asked  Partridge,  "Where  did  you 
learn  to  tie  surgeon's  knots?"  they  were  plainly 
disappointed.  If  this  was  hypnotism,  hypno- 
tism was  no  great  shakes. 

The  man  turned  quickly  at  the  question. 

"Surgeon's  knots?"  he  cried.  "What's  sur- 
geon's knots?" 

"Didn't  you  ever  nurse  in  a  hospital?" 

His  face  grew  hot  and  then  blanched. 

"No,"  he  answered  huskily. 

"Never  drove  an  ambulance?" 

"No." 

"What  do  you  know  of  Mrs.  Wortley?" 

"I  tell  you  I  dunno  nothing  of  her,"  he 
began  heatedly.  "I  never  heard  the  name 
till  this  minute.  My  mother  is  her  house- 
keeper." 

Before  the  circle  of  listeners  could  digest 
this  grotesque  contradiction  the  doctor  asked 
evenly,  repeating  his  first  remark: 


MRS.  WORTLEY'S  SECRET  139 

"Where  did  you  learn  to  tie  surgeon's 
knots?" 

"City  hospital,"  he  answered  readily  now, 
in  a  mechanical  voice,  his  eyes  intently  on  his 
questioner's. 

"Tell  me  all  about  the  Wortley  aflFair. 
What  did  you  go  there  for?  Go  on.  Begin  at 
the  beginning." 

"I  went  fer  some  money.  Mother  said  last 
week  she  wouldn't  give  me  no  more  till  I  quit  the 
booze,  and  I  had  been  on  it  a  little  that  day, 
but  I  thought  maybe  she  might  cough  up  some. 
I  was  bound  to  try  it  anyways.  But  when  I 
got  over  there  I  seen  the  ketch  on  the  winder 
wasn't  fastened,  and  I  thought  maybe  I  could 
git  more  myself,  if  I  went  in,  than  they'd  give 
me.  So  I  h'isted  the  winder  and  crawled 
through.  There  was  a  candle  lit  on  the  table 
and  I  could  see  that  the  key  was  on  the  inside 
of  the  door,  so  I  shet  the  winder  and  fastened 
it  so  nobudy'd  notice  outside,  and  then  unlocked 
the  door,  so  I  could  git  out  quicker.  While  I 
was  at  it  she  woke  up  and  started  in  to  scream, 
and  I  grabbed  her  and  shut  her  mouth.  She 
sorter  fainted  then,  and  I  tied  her  up  so  she 
couldn't  fall  out  of  bed  when  she  come  to  and 
wake  up  mother  downstairs.  Then  I  begun 
to  clean  out  the  room,  but  she  laid  so  still  I 
went  over  to  look  at  her.  She  looked  so  bad 
I  was  rattled  and  grabbed  a  bottle  of  some- 
thing I  thought  was  water  that  stood  on  the 
table  and  threw  it  in  her  face.  But  then  I 
found  it  was  chloroform.  That  rattled  me 
more'n   ever,    and    somehow    I   dropped    the 


I40    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

candle  on  her.  But  I  picked  it  up  again  and 
put  it  out  and  run  into  the  hall.  But  before  1 
could  git  out  mother  was  comin'  up  from  the 
kitchen,  and  I  hid  on  the  stairs,  I  thought 
she'd  heard  me,  but  she  hadn't;  she  only  went 
into  the  back  parlor  for  something.  When  she 
come  out  I  see  where  she  put  the  key,  and  I 
thought  I  could  stand  it  better  to  search  that 
room  than  the  one  where  the  woman  was  in 
the  faint,  so  I  got  the  key  and  went  in.  But  it 
was  dark  as  pitch.  I  couldn't  find  anything. 
I  remembered  that  her  watch  hung  on  the  bed- 
post, and  I  thought  I  could  stand  it  to  git  that, 
so  I  opened  the  foldin*  doors  easy.  Then  I  got 
the  watch,  pulled  the  foldin'  doors  to,  locked 
up  the  back  parlor,  and  put  the  key  where  I 
found  it,  and  come  out  the  front  way." 

"Do  your  friends  here.  Con  and  Ed,  know 
all  this?" 

*'No,  they  don't  know  nothing  about  it. 
They  was  waitin'  round  the  corner,  and  thought 
I  went  to  see  my  mother  a  minute,  that's  all. 
I  only  showed  'em  a  diamond,  and  said  she 
give  it  to  me." 

"What  time  was  it  when  you  came  out  of 
the  Wortley  house?" 

"Somewheres  about  9  o'clock." 

"That  agrees  with  the  woman's  time,"  said 
Dr.  Fumivall  to  the  lieutenant,  "and  clears 
up  the  question  of  footprints.  It  had  only 
just  begim  to  snow  then." 

"I  didn't  hardly  touch  her,"  said  Partridge, 
following  out  the  trend  of  his  thought.  "I  didn't 
mean  to  hurt  her.  I  couldn't  'a'  hurt  her— much." 


MRS.  WORTLEY'S  SECRET  141 

"It  will  be  found  to  be  heart  failure  accel- 
erated by  fright,  I  think,"  said  Dr.  Furnivall. 

The  lieutenant  motioned  to  the  now  thor- 
oughly astonished  men,  who  led  the  prisoner 
away. 

"If  it  hadn't  been  for  you,"  he  said  to  the 
doctor,  "we  never  would  have  got  this  Part- 
ridge. Dr.  Wortley  would  have  to  stand  for 
it.  Say,"  he  continued,  earnestly,  "I'd  give  a 
year's  salary  to  learn  how  to  do  a  stunt  like 
that  one." 

"Well,"  remarked  Dr.  Furnivall,  soberly, 
drawing  on  his  gloves,  "it  cost  me  as  much  as 
that  would  come  to — in  one  way  and  another  I" 


The  Wetchell  Job 


THE  WETCHELL  JOB 

One  of  the  most  extraordinary  cases  that 
ever  came  under  the  observation  of  Dr.  Fur- 
nivall,  and  which,  as  it  turned  out,  could  in  all 
probability  never  have  been  solved  in  any  other 
way  than  through  his  peculiar  method  of 
hypnotism,  was  what  is  known  in  police  circles 
as  "The  Wetchell  Job."  The  truths  of  this 
unique  crime  as  brought  out  by  him  are  as 
follows : 

In  a  large,  barnlike  old  house  of  three 
stories,  of  brick,  painted  yellow,  sitting  in  a 
yard  of  its  own,  surrounded  by  high  board 
fences,  amidst  new  tenement  buildings  filled 
with  an  element  utterly  incongruous  with  its  air 
of  old  fashioned  respectability,  lived  Miss 
Wetchell.  She  clung  to  the  ancient  homestead 
as  to  her  one  friend  on  earth,  to  the  everlasting 
disturbance  of  the  clamorous  neighbors,  who, 
in  their  congested  quarters,  resented  in  six 
languages  the  occupation  of  a  whole  house  of 
fourteen  rooms  by  one  person,  and  that  one  an 
elderly,  single  female  of  oily  manners  and  a 
good  income,  who  pretended  to  be  what  she  was 
not.  For  this  woman,  by  her  smile,  which  was 
ostentatiously  gentle;  by  her  voice,  which  was 
ostentatiously  tender,  and  by  her  ostentatious 
acts  of  kindness,  which  consisted  in  feeding 
stray  cats  and  allowing  children  of  the  tene- 
ments to  play  in  her  great  back  yard  one  hour 


146    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

a  week — this  woman,  by  all  these  signs  adver- 
tised herself  as  a  person  of  good  nature  and 
benevolence,  when  she  was  very  far  from  being 
that.  It  did  not  require  many  days  of  observa- 
tion on  the  part  of  any  one  of  the  interested 
observers  to  force  the  conclusion  on  them  that 
all  this,  while  done  by  the  lady  with  the  view  of 
exalting  her  reputation,  was  in  reality  the 
expression  of  cowardice.  In  fact,  this  benevo- 
lent woman  was  afraid.  She  wished  to  con- 
ciliate these  rude  ones;  she  wished  to  be  on 
good  terms  with  her  neighbors  for  fear  of  them. 
Too  miserly,  they  said,  to  sell  her  property  at 
the  low  price  which  it  was  now  worth,  on 
account  of  its  location,  so  near  the  heart  of  the 
slums,  she  held  on  with  a  grip  comparable  to 
that  of  death  alone,  fawning  and  smiling  lov- 
ingly when  she  felt  only  dread  and  hate,  in 
order  to  save  the  few  dollars  she  would  be 
obliged  to  sacrifice  from  her  plenty  in  selling 
out  and  going  to  more  congenial  quarters. 
The  bases  of  this  opinion  were  many,  spread 
over  a  large  area  of  observation  by  the  onlookers, 
who  were  shrewder  than  she  thought,  but  one 
of  these  bases  flared  out  like  a  beacon  light 
from  among  all  the  others  and  was  observable, 
perhaps,  once  a  day  for  every  twenty-four  hours 
of  the  year. 

It  was  the  distinction  she  made  between  the 
value  of  men  and  that  of  cats,  and  upon  this 
distinction  as  she  made  it  rests  the  story  of  her 
strange  misfortune. 

Up  the  street  towards  this  lady,  who  was 
sweeping  the  steps  of  her  domicile  in  the  morn- 


THE  WETCHELL  JOB  t47 

ing,  a  man  advanced.  He  was  not  a  nice 
appearing  person.  His  clothes  were  greasy  and 
ragged,  his  nose  was  blooded,  his  gait  was  halt, 
as  if  there  were  sores  on  his  heels,  and  his  skin 
was  exceedingly  dirty,  and  grown  over  with 
thick,  black  hairs.  He  saw  the  busy  sweeper 
all  at  once,  and  immediately  began  his  prepara- 
tions. These  consisted  in  a  smoothing  down 
of  the  heavy  beard,  a  pull  at  the  brim  of  his  old 
slouch  hat,  a  straightening  of  the  shoulders,  a 
sidling  movement  of  the  body,  and  a  depreca- 
tory eye.  He  coughed,  and  with  his  hand  on 
the  gate  post  spoke: 

"Hm'ml  Lady,  c'd  yer  help  a  poor  man 
that  fighted  fer  yer  in  the  war?" 

She  turned  upon  him  like  a  tigress.  She 
was  not  handsome,  and  the  distortion  of  her 
coarse  features,  the  baring  of  her  strong  yellow 
teeth,  and  her  sudden  raging  at  him,  took  him 
completely  aback. 

"You!"  she  hissed,  "You,  a  man  6  feet  tall, 
and  healthy,  asking  help!  You  ought  to  be 
ashamed  of  yourself.  Why  don't  you  go  to 
work?  There  is  plenty  to  do.  You  are  lazy. 
Don't  you  dare  ask  me  for  assistance,  you — 
you— ugh!" 

In  a  fever  of  virtuous  wrath  she  gave  an 
extra  swish  of  her  broom,  stamped  her  foot, 
threw  a  last  indignant  glance  toward  the 
abased  mendicant,  flew  into  the  house,  and 
slammed  the  door. 

Hobus  leaned  on  the  fence  wearily.  He 
had  not  been  in  the  war,  and  he  wondered  if 
she,  by  some  occult  power  known  only  to  the 


148    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

higher  classes,  had  found  him  out  in  his  lie. 
Was  that  the  reason  why  she  was  so  fierce? 
He  believed  so.  He  did  not  know  how  it  was, 
but  the  world  was  down  on  him.  The  whole 
world !  He  looked  up  at  the  house  wonderingly, 
smoothed  his  beard  with  a  trembling  hand,  and 
tried  to  think.  Where  should  he  go  next?  He 
was  hungry,  he  was  wretched,  he  was  impotent, 
and  he  could  not  see  that  all  this  was  his  fault. 
It  appeared  to  him  that  he  had  been  bom  so 
— hungry  and  wretched  and  incapable,  and 
never  could  be  anything  else. 

Listlessly  he  moved  away  across  the  street 
to  the  scant  shade  of  a  straggly  tree,  and  con- 
sidered. Presently  another  man,  with  the  soil 
of  several  states  on  his  person,  hardly  distin- 
guished in  appearance  from  Hobus  himself, 
though  he  was  smaller  and  younger,  and  his 
beard  was  of  a  fortnight's  growth  only,  slouched 
around  the  comer,  examined  the  Wetchell 
house  a  moment,  and  then  crept  into  the  yard. 
Hobus  began  to  grin,  and,  hobbling  hurriedly 
to  a  position  of  advantage  behind  the  great 
square  fence  post,  pricked  up  his  ears  to  listen. 

"Lady,"  said  the  young  tramp  to  Miss 
Wetchell  when  she  had  answered  his  ring, 
"could  you  please  feed  a  poor  man  that  was  in 
the  Spanish  war  and  got  broke  down  fightin* 
fer  yer?" 

Hobus  shook  his  head  solemnly  as  he  heard 
this  form  of  address,  so  closely  resembling  his 
own.  In  the  mouth  of  another  it  took  on  a  new 
meaning.  It  seemed  like  attempting  to  estab- 
lish a  right  to  alms  rather  than  a  bid  for  charity 


THE  WETCHELL  JOB  149 

and  kindness,  and  Hobus,  without  understand- 
ing the  philosophy  of  the  case,  felt  intuitively 
that  it  was  a  wrong  move.  Condescension  is 
a  necessary  concomitant  of  charity  with  many 
givers,  and  to  remove  the  possibility  of  their 
enjoying  that  comfortable  emotion  by  asking 
help  of  them  as  a  right,  not  as  a  favor,  is  unwise. 
He  resolved  to  remodel  his  own  formula  after 
this.  In  the  meantime  he  shook  with  wild 
laughter  to  hear  Miss  Wetchell's  address.  It 
was  exactly,  word  for  word,  the  same  answer 
she  had  given  him,  and  not  knowing  that  it  was 
a  familiar  form  to  her,  beaten  into  her  mind  by 
the  constant  repetition  of  it  during  fifty  years 
or  more  of  resistance  to  the  horrible  evil  of 
pauperization,  he  wondered  how  she  remem- 
bered it  so  perfectly. 

"You!"  she  hissed.  "You,  a  man,  six  feet 
tall  (he  was  5  feet  2),  and  healthy,  asking  help! 
You  ought  to  be  ashamed  of  yourself!  Why 
don't  you  go  to  work?  There  is  plenty  to  do. 
You  are  lazy.  Don't  you  dare  ask  me  for 
assistance,  you — you — ugh " 

She  slammed  the  door  in  his  face. 

Hobus,  peering  around  the  post,  preparing 
to  meet  the  rejected  applicant  with  a  face- 
tious grin,  was  startled  by  the  sudden  deathly 
pallor  of  his  skin,  and  quickly  drew  back  to 
his  hiding  place.  The  young  man  slowly  left 
the  yard  and  started  in  the  direction  whence 
he  had  come,  walking  weakly,  staggering  a  little, 
and  keeping  near  the  houses,  against  which  he 
frequently  leaned  to  steady  his  tottering  steps. 
At  the  corner  he  paused,  looked  dazedly  around, 


ISO    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

clapped  his  hand  to  his  side,  and  then  sank  in 
a  heap  on  the  sidewalk. 

In  an  instant  there  was  a  crowd  around  him, 
which  Hobus  joined,  hovering  on  the  outskirts 
of  it  with  morbid  curiosity.  A  doctor  came 
hastily  from  his  office  near  by,  knelt  over  the 
huddled  body,  and  presently  announced  that  it 
was  death,  due  to  a  weak  heart  and  starvation. 
Hobus  waited  until  the  ambulance  arrived  and 
closed  its  doors  on  its  ghastly  burden,  and 
rattled  away.  Then  he  returned  to  his  former 
position  by  the  tree,  and  stood  eyeing  the  old 
house  opposite  with  a  queer  passion  struggling 
for  expression  in  his  weak  face. 

In  a  moment  up  the  sidewalk  came  a  little 
girl  with  a  cat  in  her  arms,  and,  turning  into 
Miss  Wetchell's  doorway,  rang  the  old  fash- 
ioned bell,  expectancy  in  her  bright  eyes,  the 
flush  of  enthusiasm  in  her  round  cheeks.  Miss 
Wetchell  opened  the  door,  the  tramp  looking 
on  in  curiosity. 

"Oh,  Miss  Wetchell  1"  cried  the  child,  "here 
is  a  kitty — and  she  is  lost — and  I  found  her— 
and — and — do  you — do  you  want  her  ?  Mamma 
said  you  belonged  to  the-— the— oh,  something 
that  takes  care  of  kitties!" 

"Oh,  the  dear  little  thing!"  observed  Miss 
Wetchell  loudly,  with  a  cast  of  her  eye  up  to 
the  windows  opposite,  as  if  addressing  them. 
"Come  right  in,  darling,  and  I  will  give  the 
poor  thing  some  milk.  And  I  think  that  is 
very  nice  of  you  to  bring  the  poor,  little  kitty 
here.  I  will  give  you  a  piece  of  nice  candy  for 
it.     Come." 


THE  WETCHELL  JOB  151 

It  was  one  of  those  idiosyncrasies  of  char- 
acter which  only  the  profoundest  philosophy 
can  explain,  that  while  she  hoped  and  believed 
that  the  neighbors  would  become  cognizant  of 
her  goodness  to  cats,  and  would  applaud  it, 
thinking  it  was  abstract  goodness,  she  at  the 
same  time  never  thought  of  their  becoming 
aware  of  her  harsh  treatment  of  men,  and 
resenting  it,  though  the  evidence  she  gave  of 
the  latter  was  at  least  four  times  stronger  than 
that  of  the  former.  She  always  looked  at  the 
surrounding  windows  with  self-conscious  benevo- 
lence when  she  took  in  a  cat,  but  when  she  drove 
a  human  being  away  from  her  house  in  a  voice 
of  strident  power  she  never  dreamed  of  any- 
body's hearing  it,  except  the  person  she  ad- 
dressed. 

The  door  closed  behind  the  two  as  the  child 
accepted  the  invitation  with  the  delight  of  her 
years  and  innocence. 

A  great  man  has  said  that  so  subtle  are  the 
springs  of  conduct  there  is  for  every  person, 
even  the  lowest,  some  one  action  at  least  in  the 
external  world  that  will  infuse  him  with  courage 
and  all  the  passions  which  the  highest  can 
feel.  Hobus,  the  moment  he  saw  that  trans- 
action, became  another  man.  He  straightened 
up,  his  flesh  seemed  suddenly  to  grow  less 
flabby,  his  eye  brightened,  and  a  look  of  intel- 
ligence flashed  into  it,  though  it  had  long  been 
devoid  of  that  excellence.  And,  this  time  with- 
out smoothing  his  beard,  or  coughing  or  arrang- 
ing his  hat,  he  started  across  the  street  to  the 
big  house,  entered  the  yard,  and  put  a  dirty 


iSa    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

hand  to  the  bell.  When  Miss  Wetchell  ap- 
peared he  pushed  in,  took  the  little  girl,  who 
had,  childlike,  followed  her  hostess  at  the  sound 
of  the  bell,  by  the  arms,  gently  lifted  her  to  the 
the  outside,  and  closed  the  door. 

"Now,  sizzle  yel"  he  said  to  the  bewildered 
Miss  Wetchell,  "arter  you've  fed  the  cat  give 
me  something  to  eat." 

He  grasped  her  arm  as  he  spoke  and  shook 
her,  scowling  and  masterful.  "Sizzle  ye!"  he 
reiterated.  It  was  the  first  time  in  his  life  that 
he  ever  could  have  been  called  masterful. 

The  horror  of  her  situation  nearly  overcome 
Miss  Wetchell.  She  was  alone  in  that  great 
house  with  an  ugly  tramp.  To  call  out  would 
be  foolishness.  Nobody  could  hear.  And  even 
if  anybody  could  hear  she  would  be  murdered 
before  help  could  arrive.  But  Miss  Wetchell 
was  not  one  to  remain  overwhelmed.  She 
knew  exactly  what  to  do  in  the  circumstances, 
once  she  had  time  to  collect  herself.  A  thousand 
times  had  she  practiced  her  perspicacity  on  the 
neighbors  in  exigencies  which,  though  they  never 
any  of  them  had  been  as  urgent  as  this,  were 
still  of  strategic  importance.  She  had  a  prin- 
ciple and  she  would  employ  it  now.  It  was 
oilyness.  Therefore  "Oh!"  she  exclaimed,  as 
if  to  a  dear  friend,  "come  right  in.  Now,  what 
would  you  like  for  breakfast?  Lay  off  your 
hat.  Here,  let  me  take  it.  Should  you  like 
some  strawberries  and  cream?  I  like  them. 
But  you  can  have  just  what  you  want." 

She  bustled  away  through  the  sittingroom 
and  thence  into    the  kitchen,  where  the  table 


,  THE  WETCHELL  JOB  153 

was  kept  continually  set.  Hobus  followed 
her  closely. 

"Anybody  else  in  the  house  'sides  you?" 
he  asked. 

"Oh,  yes,"  she  answered  with  emphasis. 
"There's  a  family  up  stairs.  I  expect  Mr. 
Wockwell  down  every  minute." 

He  laughed  boisterously.  Her  manner  con- 
vinced him.  They  two  were  alone.  He  sat  in 
a  chair,  put  his  feet  on  the  table,  produced  a 
cigarette  and  said: 

"Give  us  a  light,  old  girl." 

She  brought  it  to  him  obediently,  with  an 
exaggerated  show  of  condescending  hospitality. 

"Do  you  enjoy  smoking?"  she  asked  in  a 
desperately  friendly  manner,  working  about  the 
range. 

He  threw  his  head  back  and  laughed,  blow- 
ing blue  clouds.  But  he  said  nothing  except 
"Hurry  up!  I'm  hungry — "  and  then,  "Sizzle 
yerl" 

"I'll  give  you  some  nice  ham  and  eggs,"  she 
volunteered  with  a  broad  show  of  happiness. 
"Should  you  like  that?"  She  paused,  with  a 
fork  in  her  hand,  over  the  gas  range,  and 
looked  inquiringly  at  him.  There  was  fear, 
deadly  fear,  in  her  eyes  and  face,  and  in  all 
her  manner,  which  she  strove  with  all  her 
might  to  hide,  vainly,  and  this  man,  who,  ten 
minutes  before,  had  cringed  to  her,  saw  that 
fear,  and  the  seeing  made  him  her  slave 
driver. 

"'Ham  and'  is  all  right,"  he  said,  changing 
his  legs,  "but  hurry  up,  sizzle  yer!" 


IS4    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

"Oh,  yes,"  she  cried,  "I'll  hurry."  She  ran 
here  and  there  in  the  kitchen,  now  for  this  thing, 
now  for  that,  and  presently  the  fumes  of  the 
frying  meat  filled  the  room.  She  started  to 
open  one  of  the  windows  to  let  the  smoke  out, 
but  he  leveled  his  forefinger  at  her  from  where 
he  sat,  and  said  simply: 

"Don't!" 

"Oh,  wouldn't  you  like  the  window  open?" 
she  said.  "I  thought  you  would.  But  there, 
I  rather  like  the  smoke  of  frying  ham  myself. 
Only  I  thought  you  wouldn't,  and " 

She  finished  with  a  gasping  cough,  the  com- 
mingled stenches  of  gas,  cigarette,  and  meat 
nearly  strangling  her.  He  looked  at  her  cyni- 
cally and  blew  aerid  puffs  and  badly  made  rings 
toward  her  shrinking  nostrils.  The  stray  cat 
was  lapping  milk  out  of  a  saucer  in  the  sink, 
and  Hobus,  putting  his  legs  down,  scuffled  his 
feet  on  the  linoleum  covered  floor  suddenly  to 
see  her  jump.  When  she  answered  his  expecta- 
tions by  spitting  and  scuttling  beneath  the  stove 
he  grinned  delightedly. 

"Say,  old  girl,"  he  called  in  a  loud  voice, 
in  order  to  make  himself  heard  above  the 
sputtering  and  sizzling  of  the  ham,  "it's 
cheaper  to  feed  cats  *n  what  'tis  humans — 
ain't  it?" 

She  was  so  fully  occupied  with  her  fears  for 
her  property  and  her  bodily  safety  that  she  did 
not  take  in  the  sarcasm  of  his  remark. 

"Oh,  I  don't  mind  that",  she  said  auto- 
matically. "  I  am  sure  you're  very  welcome  to 
thisr 


THE  WETCHELL  JOB  JSJ 

"Yes,"  he  sneered,  and  then,  "Ain't  yer 
gonter  give  the  pore  little  kitty  none  ?  Say,  yer 
oughter  give  the  dear  little  kitty  the  ham  and 
eggs,  arter  keepin'  'em  away  from  that  young 
feller  jest  now.  She's  more  importance  'n 
what  he  was!  Yer  know  what  'come  of  that 
sick  boy  yer  sent  away  hungry,  on  top  of  a 
tongue  lashin'?" 

She  was  not  following  him  in  the  least.  Her 
mind  was  deeply  intent  on  turning  over  various 
plans  of  escape  or  calling  help,  but  his  words 
set  vibrating  within  her  certain  chords  of  argu- 
ment which,  from  long  use,  acted  mechanically 
when  touched,  and  she  said,  hardly  conscious 
that  she  was  speaking: 

"A  man  has  free  will.  He  can  take  care 
of  himself.  If  he  doesn't  it  is  his  own  fault 
and  he  doesn't  deserve  help.  If  a  human 
being  is  destitute,  look  back  into  his  or  her 
record  and  you'll  find  the  reason  for  it.  But 
the  animals  are  helpless,  they " 

With  a  howl  of  rage  HoIjus  threw  himself 
upon  her,  and,  seizing  her  wrists,  bent  and 
twisted  her  arms  back  until  the  joints  cracked 
and  she  sank  to  her  knees  on  the  floor. 

"Humans  has  got  free  will,  has  they?  Oh, 
yes,  humans  can  do  jest  what  they  want  to, 
I'll  bait.  I'll  bait  you  can  do  just  what  yer 
want  to  now!  A  lot  you  know  about  what 
humans  c'n  do!  I  wish  you  had  to  go  through 
what  I  had,  that's  all — yer  ign'rent  old  cross 
atween  a  rhinoceros  and  a  jackass!  You  stand 
up  and  fry  them  aigs,  and  when  you  say  any- 
thing, talk  sense,  or  I'll  know  the  reajson  why  '* 


156    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

He  flung  her  hands  down,  and  as  she  rose 
quickly,  stood  glaring  at  her.  Then,  as  she 
spaded  out  the  ham  into  a  plate,  setting  it  on 
the  range  to  keep  hot,  and  broke  the  eggs  into 
the  griddle,  he  resumed  his  seat,  muttering  and 
scowling.  She  went  on  with  her  work  as  if 
nothing  had  happened,  perfectly  cowed,  anxious 
to  conciliate  him. 

"Do  you  like  your  eggs  turned?"  she  asked, 
looking  up  and  hanging  on  his  answer  as  if  it 
were  a  matter  of  international  importance. 

"Give  'em  here  jest's  they  bel"  he  growled, 
hitching  his  chair  to  the  table.  He  ate  vora- 
ciously, leaving  not  a  scrap  behind,  while  she 
waited  on  him  assiduously.  Once  she  started 
to  another  room,  ostensibly  for  the  sugar,  but  he 
scowled  and  motioned,  and  she  returned  in- 
stantly. 

"You  got  any  more  cats  in  the  house?"  he 
asked  abruptly,  when  he  had  lapped  his  plate 
clean. 

"Yes,  I  have  seven,"  she  answered  promptly. 
"I  expect  a  man  from  the  animal  home  to  call 
for  them  any  moment.  I  sent  for  him  yes- 
terday." 

He  examined  ner  narrowly. 

"Yer  sech  a  liar  that  I  dunno  how  t'  take 
yer.  Yer  said  there  was  fambly  up  stairs, 
and  there  ain't.  I  dunno  whether  there's  a 
man  comin'  er  not,  but  you  show  me  where 
them  cats  is.  I  wanter  see  'em." 
.    "They  are  in  the  cellar,"  she  said. 

"Wal,  come  on,  show  *em  to  me,"  he  com- 
manded rising.    .       . 


THE  WETCHELL  JOB  is; 

She  was  greatly  perturbed  over  the  thought 
of  being  alone  in  the  cellar  with  this  horrible 
vagrant  that  she  forgot  the  lamp  which  was 
necessary  to  dispel  the  gloom  of  the  windowless 
place,  and  with  shaking  hand  withdrew  the 
bolt  to  the  door,  which  opened  on  the  stairs 
directly  from  the  kitchen,  and  started  down, 
with  him  close  on  her  heels.  He  did  not  pro- 
ceed farther  than  the  door  at  the  foot.  Gazing 
into  the  damp,  gloomy  beyond  he  grunted  with 
satisfaction. 

"Say,"  he  growled,  as  he  stopped,  "seems 
to  me  this  is  just  about  the  kind  of  a  place  an 
old  addle-head  like  you  oughter  live  in — 
along  with  yer  dear  little  kitties.  Yer  ain't  fit 
fer  human  society,  that's  straight.  So  I'm 
agonter  leave  yer  here.  And  when  yer  mind 
runs  out  of  other  pleasant  things  to  think  of 
— how  yer  c'n  do  jest  as  yer  wanter,  bein' 
human,  not  a  cat,  and  all  that — yer  can  jest 
remember  that  that  sick  young  feller  yer  turned 
away  is  dead.  He  died  jest  down  to  the  cor- 
ner. It  was  starvation.  You  killed  him — yer 
high  minded,  lovely  gentle-woman." 

He  shut  and  hasped  the  door  as  he  spoke 
and  hobbled  upward  to  the  kitchen. 

This  was  on  Monday.  On  Thursday  morn- 
ing the  neighbors  notified  the  police  that  Miss 
Wetchell  had  not  been  seen  around  her  home 
lately,  and,  after  a  conference  at  the  station, 
it  was  decided  to  force  an  entrance  and  investi- 
gate the  suspicious  circumstances.  Then  Miss 
Wetchell  was  found  in  the  cellar  cowed  and 
frightened,  but  in  good  bodily  condition,  for 


ijd    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

the  cellar  was  well  stocked  with  food  and 
water.  The  moment  she  was  released  she 
rushed  into  her  sleeping  room,  and  no  sooner 
had  entered  than  she  uttered  a  shriek  of  anguish 
and  terror.  A  board  had  been  removed  from 
the  side  of  the  disused  fireplace,  revealing  a 
cavity  behind,  which  was  now  empty.  All  her 
ready  money  and  all  her  jewelry  had  been 
taken,  she  lamented,  and  she  had  nothing  left 
to  live  on. 

Then  she  told  her  story,  and  the  police, 
spreading  the  net  for  the  criminal,  had  Hobus 
in  charge  inside  of  twenty-four  hours. 

But  the  story  of  Hobus  differed  materially 
from  that  of  Miss  Wetchell. 

In  the  first  place,  he  declared  that  he  had 
not  taken  a  thing  out  of  the  house  except  the 
dinner  she  had  given  him.  Moreover,  it  was 
only  for  an  hour  or  two  that  she  was  confined 
in  the  cellar,  not  three  days,  for  somebody  had 
come  and  let  her  out.  He  had  been  there  at 
the  time  and  it  was  the  arrival  of  this  some* 
body  that  had  frightened  him  away. 

Of  course  he  was  not  believed.  But,  though 
he  was  given  the  "third  degree"  in  the  endeavor 
to  sweat  the  truth  from  him,  he  stuck  to  his 
original  statement  and  would  not  change  a 
word  of  it.  He  said  that  after  locking  the 
woman  in  the  cellar  to  frighten  her,  he  sat 
down  in  the  kitchen  and  smoked,  intending  to 
release  his  prisoner  when  he  had  rested  and 
was  ready  to  leave  the  house.  He  did  look 
around  a  little  after  a  while,  to  see  if  there  was 
anything    worth    appropriating,    but    he    saw 


THi:  WETCHFXL  JOB  159 

nothing  very  desirable,  and  besides,  he  had  to 
much  contempt  for  the  lady  that  he  was  afraid 
it  would  bring  him  bad  luck  if  he  should  steal 
from  her.  She  had  just  the  same  as  killed  a 
man.  She  was  a  hoodoo.  So  he  went  back 
into  the  kitchen  and  smoked  and  read  an  old 
newspaper  that  lay  there.  Finally  he  fell 
asleep,  and  some  time  afterward  was  awakened 
by  the  ringing  of  the  doorbell,  which  was  right 
above  his  head.  He  jumped  up  and  peeked 
through  the  window.  He  could  just  see  the 
elbow  of  a  man  standing  on  the  steps,  who 
remained  there  a  moment  longer,  giving  the 
bell  another  pull,  and  then  started  off.  Hobus, 
supposing  he  had  gone  for  good,  resolved  not 
to  risk  staying  there  after  that.  Somebody  else 
might  come. 

He  had  just  about  shot  back  the  bolt  on  the 
front  door,  ready  to  go  out,  when  he  thought 
of  the  prisoner.  She  must  not  be  left  there, 
locked  in.  But  before  he  could  take  one  step 
to  release  her  he  heard  a  footfall  on  the  walk 
outside,  the  bell  rang  again,  and  the  doorknob 
rattled.  He  sprang  into  the  front  room  just 
in  time  to  avoid  facing  the  newcomer,  for  the 
door  swung  open  as  he  shook  the  knob  and  he 
entered,  crying  out: 

"Do  you  keep  your  doors  unlocked  here?" 
At  the  same  moment  there  came  a  vigorous 
thumping  on  the  floor  from  underneath,  as  if 
it  were  being  pounded  with  a  stick  of  timber. 
The  stranger  exclaimed  under  his  breath  and 
hastened  down  the  cellar  stairs,  when  Hobus, 
knowing  what  he  would  discover  there,  softly 


i6o    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

slid  into  the  street  and  hurried  away.  That 
was  all  he  knew  about  it.  He  had  not  intended 
to  hurt  the  woman;  only  to  scare  her  and  show 
her  how  sometimes  the  best  of  us  cannot  do  as 
we  would;  and  he  had  not  seen  any  money  in 
the  house,  to  say  nothing  of  taking  any  away. 
The  man,  whoever  he  was,  had  certainly  let  the 
woman  out,  for  he  knew  she  or  somebody  was 
down  there,  and  Hobus  had  heard  him  descend- 
ing the  cellar  stairs. 

This  story  was  ridiculed  by  the  police;  yet 
they  could  not  account  for  the  fact  that  no 
money  was  found  on  the  prisoner.  He  was 
sober,  too,  which  hardly  would  have  happened 
if  there  were  any  cash  where  he  could  get 
hold  of  it.  They  took  him  to  Miss  Wetchell 
for  identification,  and  when  she  declared  him  to 
be  the  guilty  one  he  repeated  his  yarn  over  again. 

"I  heard  the  doorbell  ring,"  she  said,  in 
answer,  "and  I  thought  I  heard  voices.  So  I 
knocked  on  the  floor  with  a  stick.  Then  some- 
body came  down  the  cellar  stairs,  and  I  ran 
to  the  door  and  cried  out  that  I  was  locked  in 
there;  but,  as  the  person  turned  around  and 
went  up,  I  supposed  it  was  you  and  that  nobody 
had  come  in.  Indeed,  how  could  anybody  get 
in  with  the  door  locked  ?  I  didn't  suppose  you 
would  open  it  for  anybody." 

"Wa'al — he  rattled  the  knob,  and  the  door 
come  open — "  began  Hobus,  when  she  started 
up  and  stared  at  him,  crying  out  in  agitation: 

"Did  you  say  he  shook  the  door  knob?" 

"Yes,"  said  Hobus,  sullenly.  "I've  said  it 
fifty  times.     Ain't  that  enough?" 


THE  WEtCHELL  JOB  i6i 

She  sank  back  on  the  couch,  where  she  had 
been  lying,  with  a  pale  and  troubled  face. 

"What  is  it,  Miss  Wetchell?"  asked  the 
officer  of  police  who  had  the  prisoner  in  charge. 

"It  can't  be  anything  but  a  coincidence," 
she  said  in  a  low  voice,  "but  it  is  very  strange, 
very  strange." 

"But  what  is  strange?"  he  urged  gently. 
Miss  Wetchell  was  a  person  of  property,  and 
as  such  entitled  to  the  respect  and  deference 
of  the  guardians  of  the  city's  peace.  They 
were  all  of  them  very  polite  when  they  came  in 
contact  with  her. 

"Well,"  she  answered,  "you  know  I  am 
alone  here,  and  I  don't  like  to  answer  the  bell 
unless  I  can  see  who  is  ringing  it,  especially  at 
night.  So  usually  I  go  upstairs  and  look  from 
the  window  down  onto  the  steps.  But  to  save 
me  that  trouble  with  my  own  folks — I  haven't 
many,  you  know,  only  two  or  three  distant 
relatives — it  is  understood  that  when  it  is  one 
of  them  at  the  door,  she  will  pull  the  bell  and 
then  loudly  rattle  the  knob,  so  I'll  know.  That 
is  all.     If  the  person  of  whom  this  man  speaks 

rattled  it  it  was — was  very "     She  looked 

at  the  officer  and  he  looked  from  her  to  Hobus, 
with  a  subtle  change  of  expression  flitting  over 
his  face. 

"Are  all  your  folks  women?"  he  asked  her. 
"You  said  'she'  would  rattle " 

"No,  they  are  not!"  Miss  Wetchell  cried, 
sitting  up.  "And  if  you  can  find  out  that  any 
of  them  did  this  horrible  thing,  and  if  you  get 
this  money  back " 


Ida    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVl 

"It  was  him  done  it,"  interrupted  Hobus, 
nodding  his  head  wisely.     "'Twan't  me." 

The  officer  again  glanced  at  him  and  back 
at  Miss  Wetchell  swiftly. 

"Miss  Wetchell,"  he  said,  "do  you  suspect 
anybody?" 

"Yes,  I  do — now!"  she  answered,  with 
emphasis.  "One  of  my  folks  is  not  a  woman. 
He  is  a  man,  or  a  small  part  of  one,  and  it 

would  be  more  like  him  to  do  it "     She 

stopped  speaking  and  lay  back  on  the  couch 
as  if  exhausted.  But  she  no  sooner  had  touched 
the  pillow  than  she  bounded  up  again.  "His 
name,"  she  almost  screeched,  "is  Ferdinand 
Bostwell,  and  he  lives  at  41  Pearl  street,  in 
Wentonville.  If  any  man  rang  that  bell,  and 
at  the  same  time  rattled  the  doorknob,  he  is 
the  one.  I  always  knew  he  wanted  my  money, 
and  would  do  anything  to  get  it — the  wretched 
person!    You  come  here!" 

The  last  phrase  was  addressed  to  Hobus. 
She  seemed  to  think  she  had  done  him  an 
injury  by  suspecting  him  of  the  theft  of  the 
money,  and,  overlooking  his  treatment  of  her 
in  the  past,  she  sought  now  to  forgive  him  for 
this,  as  a  kind  woman  would  do,  and  make 
honorable  amends  for  her  suspicion. 

Hobus  stood  where  he  was. 

"You  go  sizzle,"  he  said,  disgustedly. 
"There's  people  that's  low,  'n'  there's  people 
that's  high,  I  s'pose.  Folks  says  so,  anyhow. 
I  never  seen  no  low  people  but  you.  You  say 
'come  here!'  You  say  it  to  me.  Waal,  I  say 
to  you,  'You  go  to  heU!'     Yore  a  Jonah.     You 


THE  WETCHELL  JOB  163 

killed  a  man.  I  seen  yer  do  it.  There  ain't 
nobody  no  lower  'n  what  you  are.  You  got 
a  plenty,  an'  'twas  all  give  to  yer.  Yer  never 
earned  a  cent  *n  all  yer  low  life.  Yer  didn't 
have  ter.  But  I  had  ter,  'n'  I  couldn't.  Who'd 
give  me  a  job?  Nobody.  How  c'n  I  git  work? 
The's  too  many  folks  like  you  in  the  world  for 
me  to  git  anything  to  do.  Yore  one  of  them 
twenty-five  that  looks  inter  a  man's  record,  yer 
told  me  so,  and  if  it's  bad — why,  yer  fool! 
Whose  is  good,  when  yer  come  ter  know  it? 
Is  yore's?  How  is  it,  then,  that  all  yore  money 
is  stole,  and  yer  ain't  got  nothing  ter  live  on? 
Yore  human,  ain't  yer,  not  a  cat?  Yer  can 
do  as  yer  wanter!  Why  didn't  yer  keep  yer 
money?  Sizzle  yer!  You  pertend  charity,  and 
yer  give  it  ter  cats,  and  let  better  folks  'n  what 
you  be  starve!    I'd  like  ter " 

The  police  officer,  looking  up  from  his  note- 
book, held  him  back  when  he  started  for  her 
as  if  he  would  throttle  her. 

"Don't  mind  him.  Miss  Wetchell,"  he  said. 
"He's  only  a  hobo — harmless.  He  dunno 
what  he's  saying,  and  he  wouldn't  hurt  a  flea." 

Without  ceremony  he  took  Hobus  by  the 
arm  and  walked  him  back  to  the  station. 

Then  Mr.  Ferdinand  Bostwell,  the  man 
whom  Miss  Wetchell  had  named,  was  brought 
in.  But,  having  been  questioned,  he  at  once 
made  out  what  seemed  to  be  a  perfect  alibL 
He  kept  a  job  book,  and  in  it  were  noted  all 
his  movements  for  practically  every  moment 
of  the  fateful  day.  He  had  not  been  within 
six  miles  of  Miss  Wetchell's  residence  on  that 


i64    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

Monday,  he  said,  had  not  called  at  her  house 
for  three  years,  and,  if  he  had  his  way,  would 
never  call  at  it.  He  admitted  that  it  was  not 
in  the  best  of  taste  for  a  man  to  run  down  any 
member  of  his  own  family,  and  therefore 
he  would  not  give  any  particular  reasons  why 
•he  had  stayed  away  and  why  he  would  always 
stay  away.  He  was  a  blacksmith  by  trade,  an 
honest  appearing,  sturdy,  open  mannered  man, 
and  his  evidence  seemed  conclusive.  The 
police  were  perplexed.  They  believed  Hobus 
had  told  the  truth,  for  there  was  something 
about  him,  an  entirely  new  air,  never  seen  in 
him  before — an  air  almost  of  dignity,  which 
carried  conviction  with  it;  and  this  other  man, 
Bostwell,  not  only  appeared  sincere  in  his 
declarations  of  innocence,  but  he  had  in  his 
notebook  the  names  of  men  who,  he  took  his 
oath,  could  and  would  testify  to  work  he  had 
done  fo-r  them  which  would  show  that  he  had 
been  in  his  shop  on  Monday  from  6  in  the 
morning  until  7  at  night,  with  an  hour  for 
dinner  and  a  pipe.  It  was  just  as  he  was  fin- 
ishing his  denial  that  Sergeant  Nulty  came  in. 

"By  gob!"  he  whispered  to  the  lieutenant, 
"there's  wan  man  will  get  the  thruth  from 
him.  Phwat!  Lave  him  loose  on  him  onct. 
He'll  make  the  fur  fly,  I'll  bet  you!  Dr.  Fur- 
nivall!  He  c'u'd  bore  holes  in  the  sea  wid 
thim  eyes  of  his,  and  make  the  fishes  shpake. 
Aha!" 

The  lieutenant's  face  brightened. 

"That's  right,"  he  said.  "It  will  save  us 
a  lot  of  trouble.     I  wish  I'd  thought  of  it  before. 


THE  WETCHELL  JOB  165 

Ring  him  up,  Nulty,  and  see  if  he  can  come 
here  right  off." 

So  Dr.  Furnivall  entered  a  few  minutes 
later  and  questioned  both  the  tramp  and  the 
blacksmith.  But  to  no  purpose.  They  both 
of  them  stuck,  to  the  stories  they  had  already 
told,  and  nothing  new  was  elicited,  except  the 
reason  of  the  blacksmith's  dislike  for  his  wealthy 
relative,  which  was,  he  said,  because,  among 
other  inhuman  atrocities,  she  had  refused  to 
furnish  the  money  to  send  her  young  niece  to 
Colorado  for  her  health,  a  move  which  the 
doctor  ordered,  and  she  had  died  with  lingering 
consumption,  a  martyr  to  her  nearest  kindred's 
penuriousness.  She  had  no  belief  in  ill  health. 
Work,  she  declared,  was  the  remedy  for  all 
so-called  sickness.  People  were  lazy,  not  dis- 
eased, and  pretended  to  be  suffering  only  to 
escape  the  common  portion  of  labor.  She 
claimed  all  this,  the  blacksmith  asserted,  in 
order  to  furnish  herself  with  sufficient  reasons 
for  never  helping  anybody  out  of  her  abundance. 
As  for  wanting  her  money,  he  stated  that  though 
all  her  property  would  at  her  death  come  to 
him  and  his  sisters  in  the  absence  of  any  will, 
it  had  already  been  decided  among  them  that 
they  would  devote  every  cent  of  it  to  charity, 
to  human  charity,  in  order  to  repair  as  far  as 
possible  the  wrongs  this  ignorant  woman  had 
inflicted  on  countless  wretched  strugglers.  Char- 
ity to  animals  was  good  and  necessary,  but 
inferior  to  charity  for  human  beings,  even  the 
lowest,  and  should  not  be  allowed  to  supersede 
it.     A  woman,  he  said,  might  have  a  perfect 


1 66    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

right  to  do  as  she  pleased  with  her  money,  and 
never  spend  any  of  it  on  others,  whether  men 
or  cats,  if  she  felt  that  way,  but  she  had  no 
right  to  judge  always  harshly  of  those  human 
beings  whose  chief  fault  might  easily  be  that 
they  were  bom  weak  minded  and  in  low  con- 
ditions, and  send  them  away  with  revilings  and 
condemnation.  Somebody  whom  she  had  treated 
thus  was  probaWy  the  thief.  There  must  be 
countless  persons  who  hated  her  and  would 
seize  the  slightest  opportunity  for  revenge. 

Dr.  Fumivall  turned  to  the  lieutenant. 

"These  men,  both  of  them,  have  told  the 
truth,"  he  said,  "and  I  am  persuaded  that  the 
key  to  the  mystery  lies  somewhere  within  the 
woman  herself.     I   must   see   her." 

Accordingly,  Sergeant  Nulty  accompanied 
him  to  the  home  of  Miss  Wetchell  and  intro- 
duced him  to  the  lady.  While  he  was  making 
the  presentation  the  bell  rang,  and  the  sei^eant, 
as  soon  as  he  had  finished  speaking,  turned, 
and,  taking  two  or  three  steps  into  the  hall, 
opened  the  front  door.  There  stood,  with  a 
large  covered  basket  on  his  arm,  a  young  man, 
who,  on  sight  of  the  officer,  started  and  flushed. 

"Well,"  he  said,  "I  didn't  expect  to  see 
a  policeman  here.  It  kind  of  startled  me.  Is 
Miss  Wetchell  in?    I've  come  for  the  cats." 

From  where  Miss  Wetchell  was  lying  on  the 
couch  she  could  hear  these  words,  and  she 
immediately  cried  out: 

"Why,  step  in  here!  Is  that  you?  Where 
have  you  been  all  this  time?  You  should  have 
come  Monday  morning." 


THE  WETCHELL  JOB  167 

Dr.  Furnivall,  at  this  statement,  threw  a 
quick  glance  at  the  newcomer.  Then  he  re- 
moved the  thick,  colored  spectacles,  and  as  the 
man  entered,  hat  in  hand,  leaving  his  basket 
in  the  hall,  he  addressed  him,  looking  him  in 
the  eye. 

"Do  you  come  from  some  animal  home?" 
he  asked. 

"Yes,  sir,"  he  answered.  He  was  a  some- 
what mild  appearing  youth,  smooth  of  face, 
rather  slouchily  attired,  small  in  stature,  and 
not  overclean. 

"Are  you  a  regular  employee  there?" 

"Well,  no,  sir,  I  ain't.  Dr.  Blagden  is  laid 
up  with  a  cold  and  they're  short  of  hands,  so 
they  got  me  for  this  kind  of  work." 

"Have  you  ever  been  here  before?" 

"No,  sir,  never " 

"Yes,  you  have,  too,"  exclaimed  Miss 
Wetchell,  indignantly.  "You  came  here  once 
— I  remember  you — and  I  gave  you  two  cats — " 

"I  mean — not  lately,"  he  hastened  to  inter- 
rupt. His  face,  which  had  been  flushing  and 
paling  alternately,  grew  calm  as  he  spoke, 
and  his  watery  eyes,  fixed  on  the  doctor's, 
having  passed  through  the  stages  of  furtive- 
ness,  mildness,  peacefulness,  and  earnestness, 
took  on  an  expression  of  deep  introspection. 

"Now,"  said  Dr.  Furnivall,  "tell  me  when 
you  were  last  in  this  house?" 

"Monday   morning,"   he  replied. 

"  Describe  that  visit." 

"I  came  for  the  cats.  Nobody  answered 
when  I  rang,  and  I  started  away,  but  as  I  was 


i68    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

going  out  of  the  yard  I  thought  I  heard  the 
doorknob  turn,  so  I  waited  a  second,  and  then 
came  back  and  rang  again  and  rattled  the  door. 
It  swung  open  and  I  walked  in.  Somebody 
began  pounding  on  the  floor  under  my  feet 
and  screaming  and  I  started  down  the  cellar 
stairs  to  find  out  what  the  matter  was,  as  there 
didn't  seem  to  be  anybody  else  around,  and  I 
knew  Miss  Wetchell  lived  alone.  I  heard  a 
woman  calling  out  that  she  was  locked  in  the 
cellar,  and  just  then  I  felt  a  draught  of  air  and 
heard  a  noise  that  sounded  as  if  somebody  had 
opened  and  shut  the  front  door.  I  was  rattled 
and  didn't  know  what  to  make  of  it.  The 
neighborhood  was  bad  and  the  house  was 
alone.  I  ran  back  to  the  hall,  but  saw  nobody, 
and  then  the  poundmg  below  got  louder  than 
ever.  It  shook  the  floor  and  knocked  down 
a  boa.rd  over  the  fireplace,  and  a  zinc  box 
fell  on  the  bricks  and  burst  open,  letting  out 
a  lot  of  money  and  jewels.  I  couldn't  help 
taking  it.  I  was  all  worked  up  and  hardly 
knew  what  I  was " 

Miss  Wetchell  sprang  upon  him  with  clinched 
hands  and  flashing  eyes. 

"Wretch!  Give  me  back  my  money!"  she 
screamed.  But  he  did  not  hear  her.  He  was 
intent  on  his  story,  and  finished  calmly  with 
" — doing.  And  going  over  on  the  ferry  I  lost 
the  box  overboard,  so  I  didn't  get  anything 
out  of  it,  after  all." 

"Villain!  Lost?  Lo-lost?"  shrieked  Miss 
Wetchell,  and  sank  back  in  a  swoon  on  the 
couch. 


The  Missing  Bride 


THE  UnSSING  BRIDE 

There  was  a  rap  on  the  door  and  a  maid 
put  her  head  in. 

"Here's  a  man "  she  began,  but  as  she 

spoke  a  large  gentleman  with  a  red  face,  white 
mustache,  and  an  excited  blue  eye  pushed  in 
past  her. 

"Dr.  Fumivall,  pardon  me!"  he  said  has- 
tily. "It  is  a  matter  of  more  than  life  or 
death.  Name  your  own  price,  but  I  must 
have  your  assistance  at  once." 

The  maid  laid  the  visitor's  card  on  the 
table  before  Dr.  Fumivall,  but  he  had  no 
need  to  read  it.  He  knew  the  man  by  sight 
as  one  of  the  multimillionaires  of  the  city, 
George  B.  English  of  banking  fame.  Mr. 
English  took  the  seat  pointed  out  by  Dr.  Fumi- 
vall and  rushed  on: 

"  My  daughter  was  kidnapped  last  night  on 
the  eve  of  her  marriage,  and  I  have  good 
reason  to  believe  that  she  is  at  this  moment  in 
the  hands  of  a  villain  whose  object  is — is — 
not  money!" 

He  paused,  his  red  face  growing  almost 
purple  with  anger  and  excitement,  queerly 
mingled  with  fright,  and  looked  into  the  col- 
ored spectacles  of  the  doctor  as  if  expecting 
some  demonstration  on  his  part.  But  he  said 
merely: 

"Goon." 


172     EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

He  braced  himself  and,  with  an  evident 
effort  at  calmness,  in  which  he  did  not  succeed 
too  well,  continued: 

"Everything  was  ready  last  evening  for  the 
wedding  ceremony,  which  was  to  be  celebrated 
this  noon.  The  whole  household  retired  early 
— by  lo  or  a  little  later — and  not  a  suspicious 
sound  was  heard,  not  a  namable  thing  out  of 
the  common  happened,  that  anybody  noticed, 
during  the  night.  There  were  no  guests — 
only  my  two  daughters,  one  of  them  a  child 
of  ten  years;  my  sister  who  is  a  maiden  lady; 
myself,  and  the  servants,  fourteen  of  them. 
This  morning  the  first  thing  we  discovered  was 
that  the  house  had  been  robbed  of  all  the  smal- 
ler and  more  valuable  wedding  presents;  and 
then  we  learned  that  Evelyn  was  missing.  Her 
bed  had  not  been  occupied,  and  the  only  clothes 
of  hers  that  the  women  couldn't  find  were 
those  she  wore  last  evening.  Her  wardrobe 
was  intact.  She  did  not  even  take  a  hat — 
disappeared  bareheaded!  And  there  isn't  a 
trace  of  her.  The  police  and  detectives  have 
been  scouring  the  city  since  early  morning,  but 
without  avail.  The  loot  the  miscreants  got 
is  nothing;  I  don't  care  for  that,  and  would 
say  nothing  about  it.  They  are  welcome  to 
it  if  only  they  would  bring  back  my  daughter. 
The  idea  of  her  being  in  the  power  of  that " 

He  stopped,  overcome  by  his  feelings. 

"You  spoke  of  suspecting  somebody?" 

"Yes,  yes;  that  is  why  I  am  here.  They 
told  me  at  the  police  station  that  you,  by  your 
hypnotism,   could   make   the   man   talk.     The 


THE  MISSING  BRIDE  173 

trouble  Is  that  there  are  no  grounds  on  which 
to  make  an  arrest;  and  even  if  there  were, 
how  could  he  be  induced  to  confess  his  guilt 
and  give  her  back  to  me?" 

"He  could  be  shadowed " 

"Oh,  yes!  And  that  is  what  is  being  done. 
Three  men  are  watching  his  every  move.  But 
in  the  meantime  what  will  happen  to  Evelyn? 
And  they  won't  catch  him.  He  is  sharp  as 
a  fiend.  He  will  outwit  them.  All  his  plans 
were  laid  long  ago,  of  course,  and,  knowing 
very  well  that  he  would  be  suspected,  he  has 
provided  for  everything." 

"We  are  getting  a  little  ahead  of  the  story. 
Who  is  the  man?  What  does  he  do?  And 
what  are  your  grounds  for  thinking  him  guilty  ? 
And  then  the  robbery — do  you  lay  that  to  him 
also?" 

"The  robbery  I  don't  understand — unless 
it  was  a  blind.  The  police  gave  me  that  no- 
tion when  I  told  them  whom  I  accused.  But 
to  begin  right— the  man  is  Baron  von  Castle. 
He  once  courted  my  daughter " 

"What,  he  who  has  just  inherited  so  many 
millions?" 

"Yes,  the  same.  He  is  a  rascal — the  de- 
generate son  of  an  old  German  house,  cast 
off  long  ago  as  a  good  for  nothing  spendthrift, 
but  now  made  rich  through  the  neglect  of  his 
late  uncle  to  leave  a  will  behind  him  at  his 
death.  He  asked  me  for  Evelyn  two  years 
ago,  but  I  had  looked  him  up  and  I  seized  the 
opportunity  to  tell  him  what  I  thought  of  him. 
He  had  the  unparalleled  impudence  to  laugh 


174   EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

in  my  face.  Afterward  I  heard  that  he  had 
sworn  that  he  would  have  her  at  all  costs; 
and,  to  tell  the  triUth,  being  somewhat  shaky 
— er — I — somewhai — about   Evelyn " 

He  paused,  gnawing  his-" mustache. 

"I  suppose  I  ^ust  go  into  all  the  details, 
however  distastefiU,"  he  went  on,  after  a 
moment.  "Evelyn\  liked  the  fellow  and  took 
his  part — said  that!  he  had  been  grossly  mis- 
represented to  mfe,  ind  all  that — the  way  girls 
always  talk  in  such  cases!  So  I  sent  her 
abroad  to  separate  them  from  each  other 
as  widely  as  possiWe.  But  what  did  he  do  but 
borrow  money — from  my  own  bank,  too — 
and  follow  her!  Under  an  assumed  name  he 
courted  her  in  the  very  face  and  eyes  of  the 
chaperon  to  whom  I  was  paying  high  wages 
to  keep  her  away  from  him!  What  do  you 
think  of  that?  It  was  four  months  before  I 
found  out  what  was  going  on.  Then  one  day 
in  a  hot  temper  I  dropped  in  on  them  suddenly 
— it  was  in  Paris,  in  a  hotel  parlor.  But  was 
he  disconcerted?  Not  in  the  very  least.  He 
laughed  at  me  again — in  my  face !  The  man 
is  Satan  himself!  Nothing  disturbs  him.  He 
seems  to  enjoy  being  put  in  difficult  positions, 
in  which  other  men  would  cringe  with  mor- 
tification and  shame.  He  walks  out  of  them 
with  the  air  of  a  conqueror,  as  a  victor  who 
disdains  to  profit  by  the  advantages  he  has 
gained,  holding  the  vanquished  in  too  much 
contempt  even  to  notice  him.  When  I  ordered 
him  from  the  room  this  time  he  tlirew  himself 
down  on  the  sofa,  smiling,  without  giving  me 


THE  MISSING  BRIDE  175 

the  least  notice,  and  began  talking  gayly  with 
two  or  three  women  there,  and  when  I  led  my 
daughter  out  he  hurried  to  open  the  dooif  for 
her,  begging  her  not  to  forget  her  engagement 
for  the  evening. 

"Those  are  a  few  among  many  details  I 
could  give  you  of  the  man's  conduct.  He 
stops  at  nothing.  And  he  has  pursued  her 
ever  since  in  spite  of  every  precaution  I  can 
take.  But  he  is  careful  not  to  overstep  the 
law.  He  is  too  shrewd  for  that.  He  has 
sworn  that  he  will  h^ve  the  girl,  and  now,  since 
she  has  Be^n  stolen  away, on  the  very  night 
before  her  wedding  day,  whats  can  be  thought? 
He  has  got  herOs>|  course.  ThcresJs  no  other 
possible  explanatioiivpf  her  sudo^Misappear- 
ance."  \^  \^ 

"This  man  whom^she -wae  to  maiSry — does 
she  care  for  him?  Or  is  sne  n^  love  with  the 
other  yet?"  asked  Dr.  Furni\^ll.  "Was  the 
match  made  by  you,  or  did  it  come  about  in 
the  usual  way?"  \ 

"Well."  He  coughed  and  hesitated,  Then 
he  went  on.  -  "  It  was  I  who  wished  it  in  rin^e  first 
place.  He  is  the  son  of  one  of  my  bushH|§ss 
associates,  and  his  father  and  myself  had  long 
entertained  the  idea  of  their  marriage  to  each 
other.  As  soon  as  I  broached  the  subject  to 
Evelyn  she  seemed  pleased,  and  has,  at  least, 
never  made  any  objections.  They  get  along 
well  together.  And  since  the  engagement  she 
has  never  mentioned  Von  Castle's  name.  In 
fact,  there  is  where  my  greatest  fear  comes  in. 
I  think  that  after  he  heard  of  the  betrothal  he 


176    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

met  her  somehow  and  frightened  her — vowed 
revenge,  perhaps.  It  would  be  just  like  him 
to  do  it.  And  there  was  something  strange  in 
her  manner.  If  he  should  get  possession  of  her 
after  that,  Gods  knows  how  he  would  act!  Not 
honorably,  you  may  be  sure!  It  is  a  thousand 
times  worse  than  if  I  had  allowed  them  to 
marry  in  the  first  place." 

As  Mr.  English  began  his  answer  Dr.  Fur- 
nivall  removed  his  spectacles  and  looked  him 
steadily  in  the  eye,  continuing  to  hold  his  gaze 
for  some  seconds  after  he  had  finished,  and  when 
he  saw  the  various  changes  pass  over  his  face 
— nervousness,  running  into  hesitancy,  into 
earnestness,  and  finally  into  calmness,  accom- 
panied by  a  deeply  introspective  expression  of 
the  eyes,  he  asked: 

"What  is  your  real  objection  to  Von  Castle 
as  a  son-in-law,  Mr.  English?" 

"I  dislike  him,"  he  answered  at  once.  "I 
feel  a  sense  of  inferiority  when  I  meet  him.  I 
have  money  enough  to  attract  the  kind  of  a 
husband  for  my  daughter  that  I  want — one 
who  will  defer  to  mc,  respect  me,  consult  my 
opinions.  Von  Castle  I  never  could  move  in 
any  direction.  He  despises  me  because  I  wrung 
my  wealth,  as  he  puts  it,  from  the  hearts  and 
souls  of  the  poor,  and  has  regard  neither  for  my 
opinions  nor  my  personality." 

"Is  he  really  a  good-for-nothing?" 

"He  is  very  far  from  that.  He  has  great 
abilities,  and  in  time  will  make  his  mark.  He 
is  a  naval  architect,  and  has  produced  more 
than  one  work  of  genius— has  just  taken  the 


THE  MISSING  BRIDE  177 

prize  offered  by  the  Emperor  of  Germany  for 
the  best  model  of  a  warship.  " 

"The  complaints  you  made  against  him  to 
your  daughter  were  wholly  unfounded  then?" 

"Yes." 

"Why  do  you  wish  her  to  marry  the  other 
man?" 

"He  wants  her,  in  the  first  place,  and  I  am 
under  obligations  to  his  father,  who  also  wishes 
her  for  his  son,  which  I  cannot  deny.  Besides, 
I  can  rule  the  boy.  We  shall  live  together  and 
the  union  will  be  harmonious  all  around.  I 
shall  have  my  daughter  with  me,  as  before,  and 
she  will  be  as  much  subject  to  me  as  she  always 
has  been." 

"Hm-m!"  Dr.  Furnivall  cleared  his  throat 
and  put  on  his  glasses.  "I  don't  think  you 
need  fear  for  your  daughter,"  he  said,  as  Mr. 
English,  released  from  the  power  of  his  gaze, 
began  to  rub  his  eyes  and  look  about  him  per- 
plexedly. "She  has  undoubtedly  gone  with 
Von  Castle  of  her  own  accord,  partly,  perhaps 
to  escape  the  rigorous  control  which,  it  is 
plain,  you  hold  over  her,  as  well  as  for  love 
of  the  man.  They  are  probably  safely  married 
by  this  time,  and  soon  you  will  receive  notice 
to  that  effect — perhaps  today.  The  burglary  I 
do  not  understand  yet,  but  her  apparently  will- 
ing acceptance  of  the  man  you  wished  her  to 
marry " 

At  this  instant  the  office  door  opened  with- 
out ceremony  and  a  young  man  appeared  on 
the  threshold,  the  maid's  face,  gathered  in  an 
expostulatory  scowl,  showing  at  his  shoulder. 


178    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIl^ 

"Von  Castle!"  exclaimed  Mr.  English. 

The  newcomer,  who  was  a  self-reliant  look- 
ing young  fellow,  dark  and  big  and  handsome, 
cast  one  glance  at  the  speaker,  and  then,  giving 
him  no  more  attention,  addressed  Dr.  Furnivall. 

"You  will  forgive  me.  Dr.  Furnivall,"  he 
said,  "for  this  rudeness  on  my  part  when  you 
know  the  reason  of  it.  In  extremities  all  rules 
of  deportment  may  be  broken.  The  fact  is  that 
my  betrothed  wife  has  been  either  kidnapped 
from  her  home  or  shut  up  in  it  illegally  and 
hidden  from  her  friends,  and  I " 

Dr.  Furnivall,  the  instant  the  newcomer's 
name  was  cried  out  by  Mr.  English,  threw  a 
swift  glance  at  the  two  men.  What  he  thought 
it  would  be  impossible  to  conjecture  from  his 
face,  which  was  immobile  and,  apparently,  dis- 
interested. But  as  the  young  man  hurried  on 
in  his  speech  he  rose,  and  motioning  to  the 
maid,  said: 

"I  am  busy.  Show  this  gentleman  to  the 
reception-room." 

"  Ah !"  the  gentleman  breathed.  He  regarded 
Dr.  Furnivall  haughtily.  "I  am  not  accus- 
tomed to  this  sort  of  treatment " 

"Laura!"  said  Dr.  Furnivall. 

The  maid  came  forward. 

"Show  this — man  to   the  reception-room." 

The  young  man  stood  scrutinizing  Dr.  Fur- 
nivall. He  had  large  black  eyes,  a  high, 
square  forehead,  and  a  strong  nose  and  mouth 
and  his  manner  was  forceful.  He  plainly  was 
used  to  having  things  his  own  way.  Mr. 
English  sat  with  his  eyes  rolled  up  at  him  as 


THE  MISSING  BRIDE  179 

if  prepared  to  dodge  a  missile  which  he  ex- 
pected him  to  throw. 

The  maid  touched  the  young  man's  elbow. 
Dr.  Fumivall  stood  looking  at  him.  He  finally 
bowed  low  to  the  doctor. 

"I  beg  your  pardon,"  he  said.  "I  was 
wrong — I  admit  it.  The  urgency  of — but  I 
will  wait.     I  only  add  that  I  suspect  her  father!" 

With  that  he  bowed  again  and,  without  a 
glance  at  English,  followed  the  maid. 

As  he  left,  Dr.  Fumivall,  who  had  held  his 
spectacles  in  his  hand  while  speaking,  laid 
them  on  the  desk,  and  fixing  Mr.  English  with 
his  eyes,  said: 

"Sir,  if  you  come  to  me  for  help  in  this 
crisis  you  must  tell  the  story  as  it  is.  All  this 
shilly-shallying  and  subterfuge  is  useless,  and 
worse  than  useless.  It  retards  the  investiga- 
tion." By  this  time  the  subject  was  again 
under  control,  and  Dr.  Furnivall  added:  "Do 
you  know  where  your  daughter  is?" 

"I  do  not,"  he  answered  automatically. 

"Had  you  any  fear  that  Von  Castle  would 
attempt  to  get  possession  of  her  before  the 
marriage?" 

"I  had  a  general  fear  of  what  he  might  do. 
I  did  not  suspect  that  he  would  try  to  take  her 
by  force,  of  course.  It  is  only  since  her  dis- 
appearance that  I  have  considered  him  capable 
of  that — capable  of  succeeding  in  doing  so,  at 
any  rate,  for  Evelyn  had  given  up  all  thought 
of  him.  It  plainly  would  be  against  her  will 
to  go  with  him,  and  without  her  consent  what 
chance  had  he  for  her?" 


i8o    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

"What  do  her  maids  say  about  it?  Did 
they  attend  her  to  her  room  last  night?  When 
r.rd  how  did  they  leave  her?  At  what  time 
did  she  go  upstairs?" 

"The  last  that  was  seen  of  her  was  at  it 
o'clock.  Bettine,  her  maid,  who  had  got  her 
ready  for  bed,  left  her  at  that  time  to  go  to  her 
o\vn  room,  Evelyn  was  at  her  table  writing 
a  note " 

"Has  this  note  been  found?" 

"No,  there  is  no  trace  of  it." 

"  Go  on.  She  was  not  seen  by  anybody  after 
that,  and  that  was  at  ii  o'clock.  Who  dis- 
covered her  absence  in  the  morning?" 

"Bettine.  She  was  waiting  to  be  called  by 
Evelyn,  who  had  not  rung  at  the  usual  hour, 
when  the  burglary  was  discovered,  and  she  ran 
in  to  inform  her  of  it.  She  was  not  there,  and 
could  not  be  found  anywhere." 

"You  say  that  she  was  prepared  for  bed, 
yet  this  morning  the  clothes  she  wore  last 
evening  were  missing  with  her,  and  those 
only?" 

"Yes." 

"Of  course,  then,  she  must  have  dressed  of 
her  own  accord.  What  was  the  nature  of  the 
costume  she  wore?" 

"I  don't  know." 

"You  can't  say  whether  it  was  a  walking 
suit  or  a  ball  gown?" 

"Well,  it  was  something — er — medium.  I 
don't  know  what  the  things  are  called.  An 
everyday  affair,  you  know." 

"How  did  the  burglars  get  in?" 


THE  MISSING  CRIDE  i8i 

"Through  a  window  in  the  dining-room. 
They  must  have  sprung  back  the  lock  somehow, 
for  the  butler  takes  his  oath  it  was  fastened 
last  night;  but  it  was  unlocked  this  morning 
and  open." 

"Mr.  English,  sit  where  you  are  and  listen 
to  what  Von  Castle  will  tell  me,"  said  Dr. 
Fumivall  suddenly,  and,  having  pressed  a 
button,  he  waved  Von  Castle,  who  was  im- 
mediately ushered  in  by  the  maid,  to  a  seat  near 
him. 

The  young  man  seemed  not  to  be  aware  of 
Mr.  English's  presence  in  the  room. 

"Doctor,  I  have  come "  he  began,  when 

Dr.  Fumivall  interrupted  him. 

"I  must  tell  you.  Baron  Von  Castle,"  he 
said,  "that  we  are  not  alone  here.  Whatever 
you  say  will  be  overheard  by  another.  More- 
over, you  will  be  compelled  to  tell  the  exact 
truth  regarding  your  connection  with  this 
matter.  If  you  consent  to  these  conditions  I 
will  hear  you,  but  unless  you  are  willing  that 
Mr.  English  should  know,  as  well  as  I " 

Von  Castle  bowed  and  waved  his  hand. 

"I  see  you  are  prejudiced  against  me,"  he 
said,  smiling.  "Well,  no  matter!  And  as  for 
Mr.  English,  I  came  here  for  the  very  purpose 
of  asking  you  to  interview  him  and  wrench  the 
truth  from  him.  Nothing  could  have  fallen 
out  more  appropriately  than  his  presence  here. 
I  am  told  on  the  very  best  authority  that  you 
are  able,  by  some  occult  or  scientific  process, 
to  force  a  man  to  relate  things  as  they  are. 
Question  this  man,  then,  and  you  will  learn 


i82     EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

that  his  daughter  is  being  illegally  restrained 
of  her  freedom  by  him.  She  is  her  own  mis- 
tress, and  not  a  minor,  in  the  eyes  of  the  law 
— has  been  since  yesterday  morning.  He  has 
no  right  to  incarcerate  her." 

"But  I  have  already  questioned  him  and 
am  positively  certain  that  he  has  no  notion 
where  she  is." 

Von  Castle  picked  up  his  hat,  looking  iron- 
ically at  the  doctor. 

"In  that  case,"  he  said,  rising,  "I  con- 
gratulate you  on  your  extreme  perspicacity  and 
the  value  of  your  occult  powers.  No  doubt 
they  are  great — to  the  vulgar!  I  wish  you  good 
day,  sir." 

He  did  not  go  out,  however.  He  remained 
as  he  was,  standing  in  front  of  his  chair,  his 
eyes  fixed  on  Dr.  Furnivall's,  his  strikingly 
handsome  face  undergoing  several  marked 
changes  of  expression,  beginning  with  per- 
plexity, running  through  irresolution  to  calm- 
ness, to  earnestness,  and  finally  ending  with 
deep  intentness.     Then  Dr.   Furnivall  said: 

"Tell  me  at  once  if  you  know  where  Miss 
Evelyn  English  is." 

"I  do  not,  sir,"  he  answered.  Mr.  English 
made  a  quick  movement  of  protest,  but  Dr. 
Furnivall  put  out  a  warning  hand,  and  he  sub- 
sided in  his  chair,  eyeing  the  young  man  with 
a  singular  mixture  of  wonder,  fear,  dislike,  and 
incredulity  in  his  face  and  eyes. 

"Are  you  willing  to  state  before  witnesses 
where  you  were  last  night?" 

"Perfectly." 


THE  MISSING  BRIDE  183 

"Be  seated,  then!  Now,  begin  with  11 
o'clock.     Where  were  you  at  that  hour?" 

"At  the  Athletic  club." 

"Had  you  any  engagement  for  a  later  hour 
anywhere  ?" 

"Yes." 

"Where  and  with  whom?" 

"At  the  home  of  Miss  Evelyn  English,  and 
with  her!" 

"There!"  almost  shouted  Mr.  English,  start- 
ing up. 

"Interrupt  me  again  and  you  leave  the 
room,"  said  Dr.  Furnivall  to  him,  without  re- 
moving his  gaze  from  Von  Castle.  Mr. 
English  now  sat  forward  on  his  chair,  his  eyes 
bulging  at  the  young  man,  his  face  apoplectic, 
his  hands  trembling  on  his  knees,  his  thick  lips 
working  under  his  white  mustache.  "Did  you 
keep  that  engagement?"  Dr.  Furnivall  said 
to  his  subject. 

'1  kept  it,  yes." 

"You  saw  Miss  English,  then,  after  11?" 

"No.  I  did  not.  I  was  in  her  house,  and 
searched  it  for  her,  but  she  was  not  to  be  found, 
though  she  had  agreed  to *' 

"In  my  house!  Searched!  Good  heavens! 
I'll  have  a  policeman  here  in  three  minutes!" 
ejaculated  Mr.  English,  and  ran  from  the 
room.  Neither  of  the  two  gave  him  any  atten- 
tion.    Von  Castle  kept  right  on: 

" meet  me  in  the  library  at  12  o'clock. 

We  were  to  go   away  and   be   married  at  once 
Everything    was    arranged — the    minister,    the 
passage    for    Europe    in    the    morning,    some 


i54    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

necessary  clothing  which  she  had  bought 
ready  made,  in  the  baggage-room  at  the  wharf 
— everything.     When  I  came " 

"But  you  are  getting  ahead  of  the  story," 
Dr.  Furnivall  interrupted.  "Answer  my  ques- 
tions. First,  when  did  you  make  this  arrange- 
ment with  her?" 

"A  week  ago  tonight." 

"Her  apparent  willingness  to  marry  this 
other  man  was  a  blind?" 

"Yes.     I  had  suggested  it  to  her." 

"Why?" 

"She  was  afraid  of  her  father,  who  domi- 
neered her,  and  I  was  in  no  position  to  marry 
until  very  recently.  Besides,  my  family  would 
have  objected  to  an  American  girl  as  my  wife. 
But  we  were  settled  upon  it.  Nothing  can 
part  us.  I  advised  her  to  appear  docile,  and 
then  at  the  last  moment,  if  no  better  way  could 
be  found,  we  would  elope." 

"Yes.  And  was  the  burglary  planned  as  a 
blind  also?" 

"I  know  nothing  of  any  burglary?" 

"You  don't  know  that  the  wedding  pres- 
ents have  been  stolen?" 

"No." 

"You  say  you  searched  the  house.  How 
could  you  search  it,  or  get  into  it  even?" 

"Evelyn  was  to  unlock  the  front  door  as 
soon  as  she  could,  after  the  family  and  servants 
had  retired  for  the  night,  and  I  was  to  come 
into  the  library,  where  she  would  be  waiting  for 
me.  She  is  timid  in  the  dark,  and  I  would  not 
have    her    stay    outside.     Besides,    something 


THE  MISSING  BRIDE  185 

might  happen  to  detain  me.  I  don't  have  much 
luck  with  motor  cars.  They  go  back  on  me 
often.  We  thought  the  best  way  for  her  would 
be  to  sit  in  the  library,  where  there  are  inside 
blinds,  which  would  prevent  the  light  from 
showing  in  the  street.  I  found  the  door  un- 
fastened all  right,  and  went  along  the  hall  to 
the  library,  turned  the  knob,  and  looked  in. 
But,  though  the  room  was  lighted,  she  was  not 
in  it." 

"Then  you  went  over  the  house?" 

"  Over  the  lower  floors — yes." 

"And  you  saw  nothing  of  the  wedding 
presents?" 

"No." 

"What  did  you  do  then?" 

"I  went  outside,  and  after  waiting  a  while 
returned  to  the  library.  I  thought  she  might 
have  forgotten  something  and  gone  to  her  room 
for  it.  Or — a  number  of  reasons  for  her 
absence  occurred  to  me.  But  she  did  not  come. 
I  spent  the  night  waiting,  stealing  back  and 
forth  between  the  front  vestibule  and  the  library. 
Then  I  gave  the  case  up  and  resolved  to  appeal 
to  you.  I  believe  her  father  somehow  got 
wind " 

"But  if  he  had  done  so  he  would  not  have 
allowed  the  door  to  remain  unlocked  all  night, 
nor  would  you  have  been  allowed  to  enter  and 
depart  as  you  did,  freely.  Did  you  unlock  a 
window  in  the  dining-room?" 

"No.  Why  should  I?  I  touched  nothmg 
that  I  was  not  obliged  to  touch  in  my 
search." 


l86    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

"Was  a  window  of  the  dining-room  open 
when  you  were  in  it?" 

"I  did  not  see  any  open,  though  one  might 
have  been.  I  was  not  looking  for  any  such 
thing,  only  for  her." 

At  this  moment  the  maid  tapped  at  the  door 
and  opened  it.     Her  face  was  flushed. 

"There's  that  other  man  and  a  policeman 
outside,"  she  said.     "Shall  I  let  them  in?" 

"Outside?"  questioned  Dr.  Fumivall,  releas- 
ing Von  Castle  from  his  gaze  and  arching  his 
eyebrows  a  trifle  humorously. 

"  Yes,  sir,  if  you  please,  sir,  outside.  There's 
nobody  else  will  get  in  this  house  today  in  them 
unceremonious  ways,"  said  the  girl,  folding  her 
wrists  and  putting  her  head  up  at  Von  Castle. 
She  was  a  Yankee  farmer's  daughter,  loyal, 
and  had  not  to  be  told  anything  twice,  and 
seldom  once. 

"Bring  them  here,"  said  Dr.  Furnivall. 
"They  have  come  to  arrest  you,"  he  added 
to  Von  Castle,  who  was  at  the  moment  looking 
dazedly  around.     Instantly  he  arose. 

"Not  while  Miss  English's  fate  is  un- 
known," he  said  calmly.  With  one  movement 
he  turned  the  key  in  the  doorlock  and  with 
another  he  pulled  out  a  revolver.  Dr.  Furni- 
vall sat  in  his  chair  and  laughed.  His  laugh 
was  wholesome  and  free,  and  the  young  man 
regarded  him  in  some  surprise.  But  he  cocked 
his  revolver  at  the  same  time. 

"Dr.  Furnivall,  you  will  not  attempt  to 
interfere  with  me,  will  you?"  he  said.  "You 
are  not  like  these  other — these  animals.     You 


THE  MISSING  BRIDE  187 

are  a  gentleman.  And  you  are  wise,  I  know 
that.  Advise  me.  But  do  not  counsel  sur- 
render. I  tell  you  plainly  that  Miss  English 
is  more  to  me  than  my  life,  and  I  absolutely 
refuse  to  give  myself  up  before  I  know  what 
has  become  of  her.  She  is  crying  out  for  me 
at  this  minute " 

"Unlock  the  door,  put  away  your  foolish 
pistol,  and  sit  down,"  said  Dr.  Furnivall. 
"That  sort  of  thing  may  do  in  German  uni- 
versities, among  your  light-headed  students, 
but  not  here.  How  much  chance  would  you 
stand?  The  whole  world  is  against  you  when 
you  resort  to  firearms.  It  is  both  cowardly 
and  ignorant.     Unlock  the  door!" 

"Dr.  Furnivall,"  he  said,  with  a  calmness 
that  was  visibly  forced,  and  looking  him  in 
the  eye,  "I  should  be  sorry  to  proceed  to  ex- 
tremities with  a  man  like  you.  But  the  woman 
I  love  is  in  danger,  some  sort  of  danger,  I 
don't  know  what,  and  by  the  good  God  above 

us "  leveling  his  revolver,   "if  you   make 

one  move  to  delivei  me  to  these  men,  or  to 
help  them  in  any  way  tc  capture  me,  before 
I  learn  what  has  happened  to  her,  I  will  shoot 

you  like  a  dog — dog — d — d — er — er " 

His  voice  trailed  away  to  silence.  His  eyes 
took  on  a  deeply  introspective  expression,  the 
hand  that  held  the  revolver  dropped  to  his 
side.  He  stood  like  a  tree,  firm  rooted,  strong, 
handsome,  but  helpless.  His  gaze  seemed 
to  turn  in  upon  itself  as  the  leaves  of  the  tree 
curl  inward  blindly. 

"Unlock  the  door!"  repeated  Dr.  Furnivall. 


i88     EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

He  complied  at  once,  feeling  unerringly 
behind  him,  his  eyes  in  the  doctor's. 

"Now,  sit  in  that  chair!  Give  me  that 
revolver,  young  ass!  You  have  everything 
your  own  way,  but  haven't  the  sense  to  realize 
it.  You  would  spoil  all  if  you  could.  It  will 
cost  you  some  fifty  years  yet  to  learn  that 
though  everything  in  this  world  is  gained  by 
force,  it  is  by  force  of  merit,  not  by  force  of 
the  brute — by  the  force  of  wisdom  and  knowl- 
edge, by  love  and  intellect,  not  by  force  of 
arms!  If  I  didn't  know  that  it  would  do  you 
no  good  I  would  give  you  a  lesson  on  the  asinin- 
ity  of  that  confident  way  of  yours,  and  make 
you  grovel!  But  you  wouldn't  learn!  The 
shears  of  experience,  not  vicarious  but  per- 
sonal, always  have  to  clip  the  wings  of  a  person 
like  you,  and  the  act  is  accompanied'  by  great 
suffering.  My  object  now  is  to  get  at  the 
bottom  of  this  mystery.     Come  in!" 

The  phrase  was  addressed  to  somebody 
who  was  fumbling  at  the  door  knob.  In  walked 
a  policeman,  and  behind  him,  not  very  con- 
fidently, came  Mr.  English. 

The  officer,  at  sight  of  Dr.  Furnivall,  stopped 
short. 

"Sure,  I  was  not  afther  knowin'  'twas 
yezsel',  docther!"  he  said  in  singular  confusion, 
his  helmet  in  his  hand.  "Excoose  mesel'l 
Coom  on  noo,"  he  added,  turning  suddenly  on 
English  and  taking  him  by  the  collar.  "Oi 
arrist  yez!" 

"M-Me!"  gasped  the  astonished  man,  who 
had  summoned  him.     "Wha-what  for?" 


THE  MISSING  BRIDE  189 

"On  suspeecion!    Coom  on  noo,  or  Oi'U — " 

"Wait  a  moment." 

Dr.  Furnivall  spoke,  and  sat  forward  in 
his  chair. 

"What's  your  name?"  he  asked  the  police- 
man. 

"Soolivan,  sor — r!"  he  answered  somewhat 
doggedly. 

"Do  you  know  me?" 

"Oi  saane  yez  onct — at  th'  station,"  he 
returned  with  hesitation,  keeping  his  eyes  per- 
sistently away  from  the  doctor's,  turning  them 
on  English,  on  the  floor,  on  the  walls,  on  Von 
Castle,  out  of  the  window. 

Dr.  Furnivall  looked  at  Mr.  English. 

"How  did  you  happen  to  run  across  the 
officer  whose  beat  takes  him  past  your  house?" 
he  asked. 

"Sure  th'  mon  is  th'  divil!  He  knows  arl 
things ! ' '  muttered  the  policeman  dazedly.  * '  Me 
own  bate,  an'  arl!  Coom  noo,  out  of  this  wid 
yez!"  he  cried  with  a  sudden  forced  show  of 
authority,  flourishing  his  club  and  shaking 
English  by  the  shoulder. 

"Wait  a  moment,  Sullivan!"  said  Dr.  Furni- 
vall. "Mr.  English,  how  is  it  that  you  bring 
here  this  officer,  whom  you  know  because 
your  house  is  on  his  beat,  instead  of  one  of 
the  several  others  you  must  have  passed  be- 
tween here  and  there?" 

"Because,  Dr.  Furnivall,  it  was  he  for  whom 
I  went,  for  the  very  reason  that  I  did  know 
him.  I  did  not  wish  to  stop  for  a  warrant, 
and  I  knew  he  would  act  for  me  without  one. 


iQO    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

I  don't  understand  his  sudden  change  of  atti- 
tude toward  me  at  all." 

"Neither  do  I,"  said  the  doctor.  "For  some 
reason  or  other  he  wants  to  escape  my  «iye. 
Sullivan,  look  at  me!" 

The  policeman  broke  away  for  the  dooi. 
But  Von  Castle,  who  had  watched  with  ex- 
treme interest  the  little  drama  since  the  two 
entered,  was  there  before  him,  big,  smiling, 
facing  him.     He  stopped. 

"Sullivan,"  said  Dr.  Fumivall,  "there  is 
something  in  you  that  is  wrong,  and  whatever 
it  is  has  got  to  come  out.  You  can't  get  away 
from  it.  I  don't  know  what  it  is  yet,  but  I 
shall  know,  at  least,  if  it  has  to  do  with  this 
missing  girl,  which  is  all  I  am  interested  in  at  this 
moment.  If  the  guilt  which  you  show  as 
plainly  as  if  it  were  written  in  black  letters^--^ 
on  your  forehead,  does  not  relate  to  her,  look 
at  me  and  say  so!     Does  it?" 

The  policeman,  with  sudden  brava,do,  looked 
directly  into  his  eyes.  \ 

"Sor-r,  docther,"  he  said,  with  the  air  of 
one  making  a  candid  confession.  "Oi  knows 
nowthing  at  arl  about  th'  case.  Yez  s^ys  Oi'm  \ 
guilty  lukin',  an',  begob,  Oi  am  that,  f'er  'twas 
kissin'  Sadie  McGuire,  Oi  was,  th'  cuke  at 
Stacey's,  behindt  th'  dure,  an'  Oi  tort  yez  had 
me  on  it.  'Twould  be  afther  raisin'  throuble 
wid  th'  ould  woman  onct  she  heard  of  it!  Oi 
was  frighted,  jisti  B't  Oi  knows  nawthing  at 
arl  at  arl  about  yez  case.  Th'  gintlemun  for- 
ninst,  Misther  English,  he  comes  rhunnin'  oop 
to  mesel'  an'  he  says,  sez  he,  'Soolivan,  coom 


THE  MISSING  BRIDE  191 

arrist  a  mon  that  shtole  me  dochter !'  'Hov  yez 
found  him?'  Oi  says,  *0i  hov  that!'  sa)rs  he. 
'Begobl'  says  Oi  t'  mesil',  'that's  dombed  funny, 
jist,  becaze  Oi  am  th'  mon  mesel',  an'  bedam 
if  Oi'm  found  be  youse ' " 

Two  excited  ejaculations  issued  simultane- 
ously from  two  separate  mouths,  but  Dr. 
Furnivall  put  his  hand  up  and  Von  Castle  and 
Mr.  English  sank  back  upon  their  seats,  hang- 
ing with  breathless  excitement  on  the  words 
of  the  policeman,  as  without  a  break  he  went  on, 
being  now  under  full  control: 

"  ' ixcept  to  arrist  mesil','  Oi  says,  *an' 

how  th'  divil  can  Oi  be  afther  doin'  thot  same 
annyhow,'  Oi  says,  'an'  who  is  he?'  says  Oi. 
An'  thin " 

"Sullivan,"  Dr.  Furnivall  interrupted,  "do 
you  know  where  Miss  Evelyn  English  is  at 
this  moment?" 

"Oi  do,  jist!  None  betther!  She's  wid  me 
woife,  Bridget  Soolivan,  that  calls  hersel' 
Beatrice  since  Oi  was  ilivated  t'  th'  foorce, 
at  twinty-siven  and  a  half  A,  Falmouth  shtrate!" 

The  door  whirred  open.  Von  Castle  was 
out  of  it  like  a  streak  of  lightning,  with  English 
a  hopeless  second. 

By  aid  of  a  few  additional  questions  Dr. 
Furnivall  learned  that  the  policeman  had  over- 
heard the  agreement  between  the  lovers,  which 
was  made  at  night  in  the  darkness  of  the  park 
in  front  of  her  father's  house.  At  the  time 
he  was  interested  only  in  the  fact  that  the  door 
to  that  rich  house  would  be  left  unfastened, 
with   all   the   costly   wedding   presents   within 


192    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

easy  reach.  On  the  given  night  he  secreted 
himself  in  the  dark  vestibule,  trusting  to  his 
uniform  for  explanation  should  he  be  dis- 
covered, and  a  moment  after  he  heard  the  lock 
and  bolt  click  softly  back  he  opened  the  door 
and  stole  along  to  the  dining-room,  the  location 
of  which  he  knew  well,  where  the  wedding 
presents  were  displayed  in  readiness  for  show 
in  the  morning.  He  unlocked  the  door  with 
a  skeleton  key,  lighted  the  gas,  and  helped 
himself  to  the  jewels  and  silver.  While  he 
was  busy  the  girl,  attracted  by  the  light  through 
the  keyhole,  opened  the  door,  and  he  grabbed 
her  to  prevent  her  from  crying  out.  What  to 
do  then  he  did  not  know,  but  she  must  be  kept 
quiet.  Luckily  for  him  she  fainted  at  once, 
and  seeing  that  he  was  in  for  it,  for  she  knew 
him,  he  bore  her  in  his  arms  through  the  de- 
serted streets  to  his  home,  which  was  only 
two  blocks  away,  determined  to  hold  her  for 
ransom,  hoping  to  get  enough  to  take  him  out 
of  the  country. 

Von  Castle,  however,  got  the  girl,  and,  it 
is  whispered,  with  her  father's  full  consent 
after  all.  For  one  reason,  perhaps,  he  knew 
he  might  as  well  give  it;    for  another — 

But  what  is  the  use  of  considering  other 
reasons ! 

When  we  must,  we  must,  and  that  seems 
to  be  all  there  is  to  it. 


The  Strange  Sickness 

of  Mr.  Whittaker 

Ransome 


THE  STRANGE    SICKNESS  OF  MR 
WmTTAKER  RANSOME 

A  middle  aged  man  with:  a  freshly  shaved 
red  face  and  a  short  clay  pipe  in  his  mouth 
came  rolling  burlily  up  the  street,  his  hands 
in  his  jacket  pockets,  cap  pulled  over  his  brows, 
his  eyes  darting  here  and  there,  taking  in  all 
the  sights  of  the  great  city  that  came  in  his 
v/ay.  A  good  student  of  character  would  set 
him  down  at  once  as  an  English  sailor  ashore 
in  a  strange  country,  his  wages  securely  stowed 
away  in  some  secret  part  of  his  painfully  new 
and  ill-fitting  suit  of  blue  serge.  Short  of 
stature,  but  bulky  and  solid,  after  the  fashion 
of  his  native  oaks,  with  features  whose  natural 
stolidity  was  enlivened  startlingly  by  the  un- 
expected brilliance  of  his  eyes,  which,  though 
gray,  were  of  so  dark  a  shade  that  the  effect 
was  nearly  that  of  piercing  black,  and  with  the 
assurance  of  well  considered  and  unshakable 
opinions  in  his  manner,  he  was  plainly  no 
sort  of  prey  whatever  for  the  landsharks.  If 
he  had  his  roll  in  his  clothes  he  was  able  to 
keep  it  there,  as  far  as  they  were  concerned. 
And  the  proof  was,  if  one  had  needed  other 
proof  than  his  appearance,  that  here  he  was 
two  miles  up  from  the  wharves,  safe  in  the 
heart  of  one  of  the  best  residential  districts, 
having  passed  under  the  very  noses  of  the 
longshore  barkers,  runners,  heelers,  and  strong 


196    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

arm  men,  like  a  sturdy  old  battle-ship  among 
river  pirates  and  mudscows.  His  build  and 
gait  were  enough  to  inspire  respect,  even  seen 
from  a  distance,  and  the  fiery  glitter  of  his 
eyes  as  he  approached  would  be  nothing  less 
than  appalling  to  a  person  with  secret  intentions 
toward  him. 

Arrived  at  the  entrance  to  the  public  garden 
the  sailor  turned  his  back  upon  it,  spread  his 
legs,  took  his  pipe  from  his  mouth  with  his 
right  hand,  and,  blowing  a  cloud  of  smoke 
upward,  with  a  lift  of  the  chin,  ran  his  eyes 
over  the  buildings  across  the  way.  Then  he 
lowered  his  gaze  to  the  hurrj'ing  crowds  on 
the  sidewalk,  glanced  swiftly  at  the  street  signs, 
put  his  pipe  back  into  his  mouth,  relieved  the 
congestion  of  his  nose  between  his  thumb  and 
finger,  wheeled  and  rolled  into  the  park.  On 
an  empty  bench  he  seated  himself,  fitted  the 
tin  stopper  to  his  pipe,  thrust  it  into  his  coat 
pocket,  and  drew  forth  a  small  piece  of  paper 
lined  with  diagrams.  This  he  studied  for 
ten  minutes,  his  face  gathered  in  a  perplexed 
scowl.  Then,  "Dang!"  he  burst  out,  crashing 
his  great  fist  down  upon  his  knee.  He  looked 
at  the  diagram  again  for  a  long  moment,  again 
said  "Dang!"  and  repeated  the  pounding  of 
the  knee. 

From  a  little  flat  pin  cushion  which  he 
fished  from  his  pocket  he  selected  four  pins, 
picking  them  out  with  a  sureness  and  grace 
that  no  ordinary  landsman  would  believe 
possible,  after  a  glance  at  the  enormous  thumb 
and   awkward   appearing   square   fingers,   and 


STRANGE  SICKNESS  OF  MR.  RANSOME     197 

with  these  he  fastened  the  small  paper  to  the 
slats  of  the  seat.  Then,  following  the  lines 
with  a  careful  forefinger,  he  traced  out  certain 
figures,  muttering  his  calculations  as  he  worked 
them. 

"This  'ere's  a  bloody  purty  how-d'-do,  this 
is!  As  how?  Why,  then,  here's  the  ship,  and 
here's  the  park,  and  here's  yore  Common- 
wealth avenoo.  But  then  agin  here's  yore 
Arlington  street,  and  here's  yore  blessed  Church 
street,  way  off  up  here,  no'theast  by  east,  and 
yore  Park  street  clean  away  down  here  sou' east 
by  halfeast,  and  here  is  Summer  street, running 
the  same  tacks  identical  as  Winter,  and  on  the 
chart  Summer  is  west  and  Winter  is  east,  and 
blarst  my  bloody  eyes  if  I  didn't  heave  out  o' 
there  a  minute  back,  and  they're  the  other 
way  about  or  I'm  a  landsman.  And  here  I  lay, 
up  here,  by  Park  street— here's  the  church," 
casting  his  eye  at  the  tall  spire  over  the  way, 
"but  the  sign  says  Boylston.  And  the'  ain't 
no  Boylston  on  the  chart!  And  here's  Beacon, 
only  a  little  furder  on  its  Commonwealth,  and 
not  Beacon,  and  here's  Beacon  'way  off  sou'east 
agin,  and  Park  street  church  becalmed  under 
her  lee,  when  it  oughter  be  layin'  up  alongside 
about  where  I  be  this  blessed  minute.  And, 
shiver  me!  here  it  is,  too,  on  Boylston  street, 
right  in  hail,  but  stern  foremost,  at  the  wrong 
end  of  the  park!" 

He  straightened  up  with  a  jerk  and  cast 
his  eye  toward  the  heavens  as  if  in  search 
of  the  sun,  by  which  to  get  his  bearings,  but 
it  was  a  gray  day  and  there  was  no  sun  in  sight. 


198    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

He  pulled  out  his  pipe  with  a  surly  growl, 
lighted  it,  and  sat  puffing  stolidly,  now  and 
then  glancing  at  the  map,  and  occasionally 
looking  up  and  down  the  mall  and  into  the  near 
by  paths  among  the  trees.  Presently,  as  a 
young  man  and  woman  entered  the  gates, 
strolling  slowly  along,  he  gathered  the  map 
up  with  a  hasty  movement,  folded  it  in  his 
hand  out  of  view,  and  turned  his  head  away 
from  the  advancing  couple.  Three  other  per- 
sons passed  immediately  after  these,  without 
gaining  from  him  more  than  a  quick  glance 
as  they  approached.  But  the  fourth,  who  was 
in  the  yeoman's  uniform  of  the  United  States 
navy,  he  accosted. 

"Mate,"  he  said,  "where's  this  here  Arling- 
ton street?" 

"Right  here,"  he  answered,  pointing  to  the 
street  behind  them. 

"Right  here!"  he  growled,  throwing  a  sus- 
picious, menacing  eye  at  the  bluejacket.  "Why, 
ain't  that  there  Park  Street  Church?" 

The  bluejacket  laughed. 

"So  you're  up  against  the  curves  of  this 
town,  too!"  he  said.  "Well,  we've  all  been 
there!  The  streets  is  sure  crooked,  that's  a 
fact.  This  church  is  the  Arlington  street. 
Park  street  is  at  the  other  end  of  the  common 
— a  mile  up  there!  You've  been  sailing  in 
circles,  likely.     Where  you  from,  mate?" 

But  the  sailor's  only  answer  was  to  get  up 
and,  muttering  anathemas  against  landsmen's 
charts,  and  everything  else  that  belorged  to 
them,  or  was  related  to  them  in  the  remotest 


STRANGE  SICKNESS  OF  MR.  RANSOME     199 

degree,  walked  off,  puflSng  his  pipe,  his  hands 
in  his  pockets,  his  eyes  set  straight  ahead  as 
if  in  search  of  some  known  light. 

At  the  corner  of  Commonwealth  avenue,  two 
blocks  beyond,  he  stopped  short  at  sight  of  the 
long  double  rows  of  trees  stretching  away  into 
the  distance,  with  the  graveled  walk  between 
them,  and  pulled  out  his  map.  A  moment's 
scrutiny  of  it  elicited  a  grunt  of  satisfaction  from 
him,  and  he  set  off  along  the  sidewalk,  looking 
at  the  numbers  of  the  houses  as  he  went. 

At  length  he  paused  before  a  brown  stone 
front,  tucked  his  pipe  away,  settled  his  cap  on 
his  head,  coughed  foggily,  mounted  the  steps, 
and  was  hunting  for  the  bell  when  he  saw  a 
printed  notice:  "Sickness;  don't  ring;  please 
walk  in." 

"This  here  is  what  I  call  a  rum  go!"  he 
muttered,  standing  back  a  step  or  two  and 
throwing  a  calculating  eye  up  and  down  the 
facade.     Then,  "Well,  anyhow,  if  I  c'n  board 

him   without  nobody's  seein' "     He  softly 

turned  the  knob,  and,  greatly  to  his  surprise, 
stood  face  to  face  with  a  footman  over  six 
feet  tall. 

"Lud!"  he  exclaimed,  thrown  off  his  habit- 
ual poise,  and  doubtless  awed  by  the  servant's 
gorgeous  livery. 

"Did  you  wish  to  see  anybody?"  the  foot- 
man said,  with  a  supercilious  glance  at  the 
visitor's  ill  fitting  clothes. 

"Not  to  say  as  how  I  don't,  shipmate,"  he 
answered,  dryly,  having  immediately  regained 
his  accustomed  stolidity,  "seein'  as  I've  sailed 


200    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

twelve  thousand  miles  to  meet  up  long  er 
Cap'n  Whittaker  Ransome.     Does  he  live  here  ?' 

"Yes,  but  he's  sick,  on  his  death  bed,  and 
nobody  is  admitted " 

A  girlish  figure,  with  pale  face  and  large 
brown  eyes,  beneath  which  dark  semi-circles 
showed,  came  forward  softly. 

"Are  you  an  old  friend  of  Mr.  Ransome's?" 
she  asked  of  the  sailor.  "You  said  you  had 
come  so  far  so  see  him " 

She  paused,  her  childish,  innocent,  but 
unattractive  face  upturned  to  him,  seeming 
almost   spectral   in   the   darkness   of  the   hall. 

"My  father,  Miss,  was  Stephen  Parker," 
he  answered,  pulling  off  his  cap,  "and  I " 

"Oh,  I  have  heard  my  father  speak  of  him 
frequently.  Please  come  this  way,"  she  said. 
"But  nobody  can  see  him,"  she  continued, 
when  she  had  led  him  up  stairs  and  into  a  little 
reception-room.  "I  am  so  sorry!  How  he 
would  have  liked  to  meet  the  son  of  his  old 
friend!"  She  put  her  handkerchief  to  her  eyes, 
while  he  sat  uncomfortably  on  the  edge  of  a 
sola  and  twirled  his  cap  in  his  hands. 

"So  he's  goin,'  is  he?"  he  said,  as  she 
finally,  brushing  the  tears  away,  raised  her 
head. 

"There  is  no  hope/'  she  answered.  "The 
doctors  have  given  him  up.  It  is  only  a  ques- 
tion of  time — a  very  short  time." 

"Well,  of  course,"  he  condoled,  "it's  hard. 
But  he's  an  old  man — and — and — of  course, 
ye  see — but  there,  that  ain't  what  I  come  to 
say!     It's  particl'er  unfortnit — it  is,  all  round 


STRANGE  SICKNESS  OF  MR.  RANSOME     201 

— that's  what  it  is.  Because,  d'ye  see,  my 
father,  who  was  great  friends  long  of  him 
when  they  was  cap'ns  together,  and  after- 
wards, too,  when  Cap'n  Ransome  gut  rich  in 
tea,  in  Ceylon,  leavin'  the  sea,  though  my 
father  kept  it  till  he  died.  You  knowed  about 
that,  didn't  ye?"  he  asked  suddenly. 

"Oh,  yes!  He  often  has  told  me  of  Cap- 
tain Parker  and  what  great  friends  they  used 
to  be.     But  I  thought— I  thought " 

She  stopped  in  confusion,  arresting  her 
glances  which  were  straying  over  his  face  and 
general  appearance  as  if  she  were  surprised 
that  a  son  of  Captain  Parker  should  show  so 
little  refinement. 

"Ye  see,  I  runned  away!"  he  said,  as  one 
replying  to  a  criticism.  "No  coUiges  for  me! 
The  sea,  d'ye  mind  ?  I  was  all  for  that.  'Twas 
agin  the  old  man's  will,  but  he  was  a  kind 
sort,  the  old  man  was,  and  when  he  died  he 
didn't  hold  it  out  agin  me.  No,  he  left  me 
everything.  So  there  ye  are.  And  among 
other  things  he  left  me  somewhat  to  say  to 
Cap'n  Ransome,  a  somewhat  that's  important." 
He  paused  and  glanced  at  her  face,  which  was 
anxious.  Then  he  proceeded.  "It  has  to  do 
with  a  thing  long  gone  by — to  right  a  great 
wrong,  to  say  it  above  board,  and  it  can't  be 
done  onless  I  can  see  him.  Jest  two  minutes 
alone  with  him " 

"But,  sir,  Mr.  Parker!"  she  cried  in  agita- 
tion, rising  and  standing  before  him,  "he  can't 
meet  anybody.  The  least  exertion  wears  him 
out.     The  doctors  say " 


202     EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

"Miss,"  he  interrupted,  "yore  his  adopted 
daughter,  ain't  ye,  not  his  real  one?" 

"Yes,  sir,  I  am;  but  he  has  been  more  than 
a  father  to  me,  and " 

"Well,  it's  for  yore  sake  that  I  want  to  see 
him!" 

He  crossed  his  knees  and  sat  back  confi- 
dently. But  the  girl,  with  a  wan  smile  of 
relief,  answered: 

"Then,  sir,  no  matter  about  it,  if  it  is  only 
for  me.  I  certainly  should  not  have  him  dis- 
turbed on  my  poor  account.  It  it  were  for 
another " 

He  seemed  taken  aback  for  an  instant. 

"Well,  there  is  another,"  he  said,  after  some 
hesitation,  "but  I  didn't  want  to  speak  of 
him.  I  don't  know  him,  not  even  his  name, 
but  you  do,  lady.  It  will  make  all  the  dif- 
ference to  him.  Whoever  he  is,  he  is  yore 
promised  husband " 

Her  face,  a  moment  before  pale,  and  deter- 
mined as  a  face  of  its  meek  character  could 
well  be,  now  flushed  to  a  real  beauty,  the  set 
lines  softened,  the  lips  quivered,  and  the  mild 
eyes  flashed  into  eagerness.  Her  whole  small 
form  took  on  a  womanly  coyness  almost  impos- 
sible to  imagine  in  her  until  it  was  seen,  and 
she  spoke  with  an  excitement  which  she  tried 
in  vain  to  hide,  interrupting  him: 

"Mr.  Parker,"  she  said,  "if  you  will  wait 
here  one  minute  I  will  see  what  I  can  do. 
The  doctors  are  with  him  now,  and  I  will  ask 
their  advice.  If  it  is  possible  for  him  to  receive 
anybody  in  the  world,  you  shall  be  that  one." 


STRANGE  SICKNESS  OF  MR.  RANSOME     203 

She  ran  out  hurriedly,  blind  to  the  expres- 
sion on  his  face,  whatever  it  might  be,  scarcely 
seeing  him  or  anything,  recognizing  no  logical 
gaps  in  the  situation,  intent  only  on  one  thing 
—the  thought  of  HIM. 

The  sailor  jumped  up  and  softly  followed 
her  down  the  dim  hall,  his  face  grim,  his  eyes 
glittering.  Four  doors  beyond  she  stopped 
and  went  in.  The  sailor  stole  on  to  the  next 
door,  turned  the  knob  stealthily,  peered  into 
the  vacant  room,  ran  to  a  cabinet  of  ebony, 
inserted  a  key,  pushed  the  slide  back,  exchanged 
for  a  long  envelope  he  saw  there  one  which 
he  took  from  his  pocket,  locked  the  cabinet,  and 
inside  of  one  minute  was  back  in  the  reception- 
room,  sitting  as  he  was  when  the  girl  left  him. 

Presently  she  returned,  regarding  him 
strangely. 

"My  father  says  that  he  was  under  the 
impression  that  his  friend's  son  was  an  Oxford 
university  man,  and  that  he  was  no  longer  liv- 
ing," she  said,  hesitatingly. 

"Oh,  well,  ye  see,"  he  answered,  readily, 
"I  runned  away  from  there.  Yes,  that's  it;  I 
runned  away.  No  college  for  me!  And  so 
'twas  give  out  that  I  was  dead.  That's  it. 
D'ye  see?" 

His  words  were  far  from  reassuring  her, 
innocent  as  she  was  of  the  world's  ways,  and 
she  still  regarded  him  with  eyes  in  which 
some  undefined  fear  lurked. 

"Are  you  sure  it  is  about  HIM  that  you 
wish  to  see  my  father?"  she  asked,  anxiously, 
"Because  if  it  isn't "     She  hesitated. 


fl04    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

"Well,  I'll  tell  ye  what,"  he  said,  as  if  sud- 
denly arrived  at  a  satisfactory  conclusion. 
"I'll  go  git  the  papers — I  didn't  fetch  'em. 
along  this  time,  d'ye  see — and  I'll  come  agin. 
Then  ye'll  see  for  yerself,  for  I'll  show  'em  to 
ye." 

He  picked  up  his  cap  and  arose. 

"But,  sir,  my  father  wishes  to  see  you!" 
she  exclaimed.  "Though  the  doctors  do  not 
approve,  he  wishes  it,  for  he  cannot  imagine 
what  the  important  thing  is " 

"Well,  I'll  git  the  papers  and  come  agin," 
he  interrupted,  moving  toward  the  door.  She 
stood  well  away  from  him,  but  her  anxiety 
regarding  his  message  overcame  her  fear  of 
his  person,  and  she  asked  hastily: 

"Couldn't  you  tell  me  the  nature  of  the 
communication  you  wish  to  make  to  him? 
He  cannot  imagine  what  it  may  be,  and  I,  you 
know — you  said  that  I — that  it  was  for  my 
sake  too.     I  have  a  right  to  know." 

"Well,  I'll  bring  the  papers,  that's  all,"  he 
growled,  glaring  at  her.  With  that  he  passed 
down  the  stairs  and  out,  the  footman  opening 
the  door  for  him  stiffly,  while  she  followed  him 
with  troubled  eyes. 

"What  a  strange  man!  What  could  his 
message  be?"  she  murmured.  Then  she  hur- 
ried softly  back  to  the  sick  room. 

*  *  He  >i: 

Dr.  Furnivall,  seated  in  his  library,  drew  a 
breath  of  relief.  He  had  had  a  hard  day  and 
was  tired.  What  with  his  prison  duties  as 
resident   physician,   his   private   practice,   and, 


STRANGE  SICKNESS  OF  MR.  RANSOME     205 

recently,  since  the  fame  of  his  hypnotic  powers 
had  spread  so  widely,  the  grind  he  had  been 
called  upon  to  undergo  in  police  circles,  he  was 
pretty  well  worn  out.  But  this  evening  there 
was  nothing  on  the  tapis  and  he  would 

The  door  opened  without  ceremony  and  in 
walked  Dr.  Gerrish.  He  was  flushed  and 
excited,  and  held  a  paper  in  his  hand.  Though 
he  was  privileged  to  burst  in  upon  his  friend 
in  this  sort  of  way  if  he  so  wished,  he  began 
an  apology. 

"If  it  weren't  so  important "  he  began. 

"Oh,  yes!  Everything  is  important  with 
you  young  fellows.  But  to  tell  you  the  truth, 
there  hasn't  been  an  important  happening 
since  6,000  B.  C.  That  is  according  to  Usher's 
chronology.  Adam  and  Eve  were  born  then. 
My  own  notion  is,  plagiarized  from  Rabelais, 
Montaigne,  Mr.  Shakespeare,  and  others,  all 
equally  unknown  today,  except  in  name, 
nothing  ever  happened  that  was  or  is  or  in 
any  way  can  be  important.     Well,  go  on!" 

He  smiled  affectionately  at  his  younger 
friend,  leaned  back  in  his  chair,  put  on  his 
spectacles  of  colored  glass,  and  looked  atten- 
tion. 

But  Dr.  Gerrish  was  in  earnest.  He  did 
not  respond  to  his  friend's  banter,  except  by 
a  fleeting  smile.     Then  he  began: 

"Three  of  us  were  in  consultation  this 
afternoon  over  a  case  that  will  puzzle  even 
you." 

"Who  were  they?" 

"Whewell  and  Hersey,  with  me." 


2o6    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

"Good  men!     What  was  the  case?" 

"That's  it.  What  is  it?  Listen  now." 
Dr.  Gerrish  leaned  eagerly  over  the  table 
toward  Dr.  Furnivall  and  continued:  "Take 
a  man  60  years  old,  hale  and  strong — never 
been  sick  in  his  life.  Gradually  he  becomes 
weak;  no  apparent  disease;  organs  intact;  no 
bad  habits;  just  sinks,  and  goes  to  bed.  For 
a  long  time  no  physician  called  because  not 
considered  necessary;  just  a  weakness  which, 
with  ordinary  care,  will  pass  away.  But  it 
doesn't  pass  away.  On  the  contrary,  it  grows 
greater,  and  keeps  on  growing  greater,  he 
refusing  medical  advice,  until  a  whole  year  is 
gone  by.  Then  the  daughter  will  wait  no 
longer,  and  calls  in  Hersey.  Hersey  can  make 
nothing  at  all  of  the  symptoms  and  calls  in 
Whewell.  Whewell  is  all  off,  too,  and  calls 
in  me.  I  also  am  all  off.  Now  I  want  you, 
we  all  of  us  want  you,  and  I  am  here  to  get 
you;  and,"  he  added,  thrusting  the  paper  he 
had  held  in  his  hand  since  he  entered,  under 
Dr.  Fumivall's  eyes,  "here  is  the  document 
that  will  fetch  you." 

Dr.  Furnivall  put  out  his  hand  for  it,  but 
Dr.  Gerrish  withdrew  it. 

"It  is  a  record  of  symptoms,"  he  said, 
"filed  down  to  the  last  analysis.  You  need 
not  know  them  all.  This  will  be  enough  for 
you,  or  I  am  much  mistaken.     Listen." 

Searching  here  and  there  in  the  written 
diagnosis,  leaving  out  the  minor  details,  he 
read,  eagerly,  the  symptoms  of  a  disease  so 
strange  that  it  never  had   been  heard  of  by 


STRANGE  SICKNESS  OF  MR.  RANSOME     207 

merely  practising  physicians  in  the  United 
States  of  America  and  by  but  few  of  the  best 
physicians  anywhere.  Yet  these  symptoms 
sounded  so  simple!  The  following  is  all  Dr. 
Gerrish  read: 

"Almost  utter  muscular  weakness — breath- 
lessness  upon  least  exertion — palpitation  of 
heart — puffy  face — enlarged  spleen  and  lym- 
phatic glands — slight  fever — badly  defined  red- 
dish patches  on  body — profound  mental  leth- 
argy; all  this,  with  no  mania,  no  delusions,  but 
of  course  with  no  optimism,  no  hope.  Leth- 
argy the  predominating  feature.  Patient's  age 
60  years  or  so." 

Dr.  Fumivall  arose  at  once. 

"Is  it  far  from  here?"  he  inquired,  his 
hand  on  a  push  button. 

"Whittaker  Ransome's!"  replied  Dr.  Ger- 
rish succinctly. 

"Indeed!  Then  we'll  just  walk  around  the 
comer.     We  shall  need  no  conveyance." 

The  patient  lay  a  massive  ruin  in  his  great 
bed,  like  a  giant  tree  stricken  down.  The 
flesh  over  his  ponderous  bones  had  shrunk 
imtil  the  corrugated  skin,  except  over  his 
face,  which  was  puffy,  resembled  thick  bark 
more  than  the  cuticle  of  a  man.  His  great 
hands,  pale  and  thin,  lay  like  skeleton  claws 
outside  the  quilt,  the  veins  showing  large 
and  knotted,  but  filled  apparently  with  some 
lighter  hued  fluid  than  good  red  blood.  The 
eyes  were  closed  wearily,  the  whole  body 
expressed  weariness  in  the  last  degree,  and 
the    man    seemed    even    to    breathe   with    the 


3o8    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

reluctance  of  one  over  a  hard  and  painful 
task.     It   was   a   ghastly   spectacle. 

But  Dr.  Fumivall  cast  only  one  glance  at 
the  patient  himself.  His  attention  was  all 
concentrated  on  a  vase  and  its  accompani- 
ments on  the  mantel  from  the  instant  he  first 
saw  it.  Long  necked,  of  well  levigated  clay, 
it  was  gilded  without  and  within  with  a  dull, 
golden  colored  mica.  By  the  side  of  it  stood 
a  glass  jar  containing  a  brownish  red  powder, 
and  dose  to  that  was  a  forked  stick,  one  fork 
of  which  was  split  and  filled  with  chicken  feath- 
ers, while  inside  hung  a  little  clay  pot  con- 
taining a  number  of  chicken  bones. 

Dr.  Fumivall,  having  finished  his  examina- 
tion of  this  unique  curio,  looked  from  it  inter- 
estedly to  the  patient,  and  then  beckoned  Dr. 
Gerrish. 

"I  did  not  know  he  ever  was  in  Africa," 
he  said,  motioning  toward  the  patient. 

"It  was  not  Africa,  it  was  India — ^there  is 
where  he  made  his  money — in  the  tea  busi- 
ness. 

"Yes,  but  this  vase  and  these " 

"Oh,  his  nephew  gave  him  those.  He  is 
a  surgeon,  a  young  Englishman,  his  sister's 
son,  and  his  heir,  out  somewhere  in  the  Anglo- 
Egyptian  Soudan." 

Dr.  Fumivall  threw  him  a  quick,  singular 
glance. 

"Do  you  suspect  nothing?"  he  asked. 

Dr.  Gerrish  shook  his  head,  with  a  quick 
glance  in  his  turn. 

"No.     Why?" 


STRANGE  SICKNESS  OF  MR.  RANSOME     ao9 

Dr.  Furnivall  stepped  to  the  bedside  and 
looked  down  earnestly  at  the  slumbering  pa- 
tient. He  took  his  pulse.  Then  he  whispered 
to  Dr.  Gerrish: 

"I  am  going  home  to  refresh  my  memory 
with  an  authority  that  occurs  to  me.  Bring 
me  some  of  the  patient's  blood  as  soon  as  you 
can.  If  we  haven't  run  up  against  the  most 
subtle,  fiendish  crime " 

"Crime!"  gasped  Dr.  Gerrish,  taken  wholly 
by  surprise. 

"You  say  this  nephew  is  his  heir — is  there 
a  likeness  of  him  of  any  kind  in  the  house  that 
you  know  of?" 

This  seemed  to  Dr.  Gerrish  to  be  exceed- 
ingly irrelevant,  but  he  answered  readily  by 
pointing  to  the  wall,  on  which  was  hung  a  fine 
oil  painting  of  a  young  man  in  uniform.  Dr. 
Furnivall  stood  back  and  examined  it.  His 
mental  processes  as  he  did  so  were  somewhat 
as  follows.  The  interpretation  has  become  so 
famous  among  physicians  and  phrenologists 
that  it  would  be  supererogatory  to  introduce 
here  any  more  than  the  striking  points  of  it: 

"The  brain  is  large  at  the  base,  as  com- 
pared with  the  upper  superior  convolutions  of 
the  cerebrum,  especially  m  the  upper  frontal 
lobes  at  the  seat  of  the  faculties  of  benevolence 
and  veneration.  The  development  immedi- 
ately over  the  eye  shows  perception  in  a  marked 
degree,  and  the  fullness  of  the  eyes  themselves 
means  a  flow  of  language — words,  words, 
words,  to  such  an  extent  that  a  superficial 
observer,  or  one  who  loved  the  speaker,  would 


2IO    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

believe  him  much  deeper  and  more  accomplished 
than  is  the  case.  The  forehead,  in  the  abrupt 
recession  of  the  upper  superior  convolutions, 
indicates  also  this  same  lack  of  benevolence. 
Causality,  comparison,  and  veneration  are 
largely  deficient.  His  most  striking  faculty  is 
that  of  human  nature.  The  head,  through  the 
regions  of  the  ears  and  the  temporal  lobes,  is 
extremely  broad — it  means  destructiveness, 
acquisitiveness,  secretiveness.  There  is  great 
energy  and  executive  ability,  love  of  money  and 
power,  active  slyness  and  cunning.  Roof  shaped 
at  the  vertix,  sloping  toward  the  parietal  emi- 
nences, the  head  here  indicates  a  lack  of  con- 
scientiousness. The  still,  small  voice  in  this 
man  is  so  'very  small  and  still  that  he  never 
heard  it.  His  self-esteem  will  give  him  abso- 
lute confidence  in  his  ability  to  carry  out  what- 
ever scheme  his  selfish  propensities  may  con- 
coct, and  he  has  the  determination  and  stead- 
fastness of  the  bulldog.  His  cerebellum  is 
abnormally  developed,  which  indicates  muscu- 
larity, and  he  is  doubtless  strong  and  vigorous. 
Caring  primarily  for  his  own  feelings  and 
wants,  sly,  surreptitious,  yet  at  the  same  time 
forceful,  he  is  a  dangerous  type  of  man,  one 
in  whom  it  would  be  difficult  to  find  any  natural 
quality  of  a  gentleman — neither  love,  honor, 
trust,  nor  conscience." 

Dr.   Fumivall  turned  to    Dr.  Gerrish. 
"What  uniform  is  that  in  the  picture?" 
"I  don't  know.     But  he  is  a  surgeon,  in  the 
Egyptian  medical  service,  until  recently  work- 
ins:  with  the  Soudan  commission." 


STRANGE  SICKNESS  OF  MR.  RANSOME     an 

"Until  recently?    Where  is  he  now?" 

"On  his  way  here.  He  was  sent  for  three 
months  since,  and  is  expected  daily." 

"How  long  ago  was  this  vase  received?" 

"Oh,  he  brought  it  himself  when  he  was  in 
the  city  last  year." 

"Ah,  he  has  visited  here  himself!  Do  you 
know  if  the  patient  has  been  out- of  the  United 
States  lately?" 

"Not  for  eight  years,  certainly,  for  I  have 
known  him  for  that  length  of  time." 

"Well,  bring  me  the  blood." 

*  *        *        * 

Dr.  Furnivall  straightened  up  from  his 
microscope  and,  putting  on  his  spectacles, 
looked  at  Dr.  Gerrish. 

"It  is  as  I  thought,"  he  said.  "Bacterio- 
logic  culture  of  trypanosomes !" 

"Good  heavens!"  ejaculated  Dr.  Gerrish, 
stepping  quickly  to  the  microscope.  "How  on 
earth  did  you  ever  come  to  suspect  such  a 
thing?" 

"In  the  first  place,  the  symptoms  of  the 
patient  indicated  it.  And  as  soon  as  I  saw 
that  odd  vase  in  his  room  I  was  practically 
certain.  For  vases  of  that  sort,  as  I  see  by  my 
authority  here,  are  made  only  in  the  Bahr-El- 
Ghazal  province  in  the  southern  Soudan, 
where  trypanosomiasis,  or  'sleeping  sickness,' 
is  common." 

Dr.  Gerrish,  who  was  eagerly  studying  the 
culture,  raised  his  head  quickly. 

"But,"  he  said,  "the  patient  was  never 
there — and  how  could  he  contract " 


212     EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

"The  disease  is  spread  in  two  ways,  first 
by  the  bite  of  the  tsetse  fly.  That  is  the  com- 
mon way." 

"Well,  there  are  no  tsetse  flies  here!" 

"No,  there  are  not.  But  theie  is  the  second 
way — direct  inoculation  of  the  parasites  into 
the  blood — and  we  have  hypodermic  needles 
here." 

Dr.  Gerrish  stared  at  him  blankly  for  a 
moment.  Then  he  comprehended,  and  his  face 
paled. 

"Good  God!  Can  he  be  such  a  subtle 
fiend!"   he   murmured. 

"The  disease  proves  fatal,  you  understand, 
always — not  until  a  long  time  subsequent  to 
inoculation,  however,  anywhere  from  three 
months  to  three  years  after  decided  symp- 
toms appear.  And  there  is  no  sign  of  poison 
— only  general  paralysis,  or  chiefly  that." 

"But  why  should  he  wish  to  do  it?  He 
was  his  uncle's  heir,  and  would  get  his  prop- 
erty anyway,  or  most  of  it.  And,  indeed,  all 
of  it,  in  effect,  for  he  is  to  marry  the  adopted 
daughter,  who  is  the  only  other  living  person 
likely  to  be  thought  of  in  the  will." 

"The  reasons  we  may  leave  until  we  inter- 
view the  nephew.  Rest  assured  he  had  good 
ones  in  his  own  estimation.  I'll  get  a  warrant 
for  him,  and  as  soon  as  he  arrives  he  and  I 
will  have  a  little  chat  together  on  the  subject." 

The  next  day,  accordingly,  found  Dr.  Fur- 
divall  face  to  face  with  the  young  English- 
man, who  had  reached  his  uncle's  house  that 
morning.     The  portrait  which  the  doctor  had 


STRANGE  SICKNESS  OF  MR.  RANSOME     213 

studied  was  a  good  likeness,  and  he  shud- 
dered inwardly  as  he  looked  into  the  pitiless 
gray  eyes  and  felt  the  atmosphere  of  brutal 
selfishness  that  enveloped  the  man  beneath 
the  cultivated  suavity  of  manner,  which,  to  the 
casual  observer,  was  very  far  from  uninviting. 
Stout  and  florid,  of  the  pure  English  type,  in 
the  traditional  slouchy  suit  of  gray  tweed,  he 
conversed  with  the  doctor  as  one  of  his  uncle's 
physicians,  manifesting  much  sorrow  over  his 
condition.  He  said  that  he  supposed  they 
had  abandoned  all  hope  of  his  recovery. 

"Yes,"  answered  Dr.  Fumivall,  looking 
into  his  eyes.  "You  have  just  seen  him,  I 
understand.  What,  in  your  opinion,  is  he 
afflicted  with?" 

"Oh,  I  haven't  examined  him,  don't  you 
know.  Not  yet.  You  have  very  fair  physi- 
cians in  this  country,  and  I  fancy  everjrthing 
has  been  done  for  him — er — properly,  and  all 
that.  I  don't  say  what  might  have  been  if  I 
could  have  seen  him  in  time.  Er — too  late 
now,  and  all  that  — er!" 

"You  have  no  idea  what  his  disease  is?" 

"I  fancy  it  is — er — old  age,  don't  you  know 
— er — general  paralysis — er — er " 

His  face  having  shown  several  remarkable 
changes  of  expression  as  he  talked,  his  eyes 
in  the  doctor's,  beginning  with  perplexity, 
running  into  vacancy,  into  stolidity,  and  then 
earnestness,  now  settled  into  deep  introspec- 
tion; and  his  voice,  trailing  away  to  silence 
for  an  instant,  began  again  '-^hout  hesitancy, 
but  with  a  mechanical   intonation. 


ai4    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

"What  did  you  ask  me?"  he  continued. 

"What  disease  is  your  uncle  aflSicted  with?" 

As  Dr.  Furnivall  put  the  question  this  time 
the  door  of  the  room,  which  had  been  slightly 
ajar  up  to  this  moment,  swung  wide,  and  Dr. 
Gerrish  and  another  man  came  in.  The  sub- 
ject gave  them  no  attention,  but  answered  at 
once : 

"Sleeping  sickness!" 

"How  did  he  contract  it?" 

"I  inoculated  him  with  trypanosomes  four- 
teen months  ago!" 

"How  did  you  manage  to  do  that  without 
his  suspecting  it?" 

"I  put  enough  arsenic  in  his  food  to  give 
him  violent  pains  in  the  stomach  and  bowels, 
and  followed  with  hypodermic  injections  to 
relieve  the  suflFering,  one  containing  the  try- 
panosomes, the  other  morphine.  For  the  arsen- 
ical poisoning  I  gave  him  hydrated  sesquioxide 
of  iron." 

The  man  in  plain  clothes  with  Dr.  Gerrish 
stepped  nearer,  but  Dr.  Furnivall  put  another 
question. 

"What  was  your  object  in  inoculating  your 
uncle  with  this  fatal  disease?" 

"He  was  a  strong  man,  likely  to  live  long, 
and  I  wanted  his  money  as  soon  as  I  could 
get  it.  Besides,  he  had  made  conditions  in 
his  will  that  did  not  suit  me.  By  its  terms 
I  am  to  marry  his  adopted  daughter  or  else 
give  up  half  the  property  to  her.  I  was  pres- 
ent when  the  will  was  made,  and  pretended 
to  agree  to    its  provisions,  knowing  that  with 


STRANGE  SICKNESS  OF  MR.  RANSOME     ai5 

a  man  like  him  it  would  be  useless  to  do  other- 
wise; he  would  have  his  way.  I  had  a  dupli- 
cate key  to  his  cabinet  made  while  I  was  here, 
and  when,  some  months  after  my  return  to  the 
Soudan,  I  learned  that  he  was  too  sick  to  be 
up  and  around,  I  sent  here  a  man,  a  sailor, 
who  is  in  my  power,  with  the  key.  I  coached 
him  up  on  a  cock-and-bull  story  that  he  was 
the  son  of  an  old  friend  of  my  uncle's,  and 
on  some  pretext  or  other  he  was  to  get  into  the 
room,  which  I  described  to  him,  where  the 
cabinet  was  kept,  and  change  the  real  will, 
which  was  locked  up  there,  for  one  I  had 
forged  myself.  All  this  was  done  while  I  was 
thousands  of  miles  away,  so  that  no  suspicions 
could  attach  to  me  should  occasion  of  suspicion 
of  anybody  arise.  Even  that  was  not  likely. 
There  is  nobody  interested  but  the  girl,  who 
will  accept  meekly  whatever  happens;  and, 
you  know,  I  didn't  want  her,  but  I  did  want 
the  money." 

"And  I  want  you,"  said  the  plain  clothes 
man,  stepping  up  to  him  as  Dr.  Fumivall 
turned  away  in  disgust.  "I  arrest  you  for 
the  poisoning  of  your  uncle,  Mr.  Whittaker 
Ransome.  Later  the  charge  will  be  murder. 
Come!    Step  lively!" 

With  a  look  of  the  deepest  astonishment  on 
his  usually  self-satisfied  face,  the  young  man 
was  hustled  from  the  room,  not  too  gently. 


The  Man  With  The 
Glass  Eye 


THE  MAN  WITH  THE  GLASS  EYE 


"Friendship,"  said  Delancy,  lighting  his 
briar  root,  "consists  in  overlooking  faults." 

"One  would  have  to  overlook  quite  a  few 
in  you,"  returned  Sewell,  sourly. 

Delancy  grinned  and  blew  rings. 

"You're  my  friend,  aren't  you  ?"  He  crossed 
his  knees  and  crowded  down  the  tobacco  in 
his  pipe  with  a  knife  handle. 

"Not  when  you  want  money — not  by  a 
blessed  sight!"  retorted  Sewell,  also  crossing 
his  knees. 

"There's  one  thing  I  like  about  you,  you 
most  humble  apology  for  an  old  chum,"  said 
Delancy,  blowing  clouds  of  smoke  debonairly, 
"and  that  is  you  are  rich  but  honest.  Most 
men  would  be  ashamed  to  confess  to  your 
principles." 

Sewell  snorted  smoke. 

"How  much  do  you  owe  me  now?"  he 
burst  out,  leaning  forward,  his  pipe  in  his 
hand,  his  bald  head  glistening  in  a  ray  of  sun 
that  lay  across  the  comer  of  the  room,  his 
white  mustache  lifting  up  and  do\^rn  over  his 
thin  lips,  his  black  eyes  shooting  sparks,  his 
face  full  of  condemnation. 

"What's  that  got  to  do  with  it?  It  isn't 
what  I've  had,  it  is  what  I  want,  that  bothers 
me.  And  you've  got  enough,  more  than  ten 
times    enough.    Come,  shell  out!    Lend  me  a 


aao    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

thousand — ha,  ha,  ha!"  He  threw  himself 
back  in  his  chair  and  laughed  boisterously  at 
the  astonished  expression  on  the  other's  face. 
"Anybody  would  think  you  were  surprised," 
he  added.  And  then  ruminatively,  "What  a 
queer  devil!" 

"It's  you  who  are  the  queer  devil!"  exploded 
Sewell,  hitching  excitedly  around  in  his  Morris 
chair,  and,  his  pipe  in  his  fingers,  the  stem 
pointed  at  Delancy,  scowling  thunders.  "I 
can't  keep  going  on  forever  lending  you  money! 
What  do  you  take  me  for?  An  ass!  You 
must!     Or    else    you    wouldn't   have    the    gall 


"Well,"  grumbled  Delancy,  his  fresh  face, 
smooth  shaven  and  rotund,  crinkling  lugubri- 
ously, "I  can't  live  the  way  you  do.  It's  dis- 
graceful! A  man  with  $10,000  a  year  income, 
with  nobody  but  himself  to  look  after — it's 
disgraceful,  it  is,  spending  only  three  thou- 
sand! What  is  money  for?  Why,  if  I  had  as 
much  as  you  have " 

"You  wouldn't  be  worth  a  dollar  in  two 
years,"  interpolated  Sewell  with  spirit. 

"Very  likely  not.  But  other  people  would 
be — the  people  on  whom  I  would  blow  it.  I 
can  take  care  of  myself — they  can't!  And 
there  you  are!     I  should  be  a  philanthropist." 

He  laughed  again,  pleasantly,  kicking  a 
hassock  end  over  end. 

"You  are  the  most  inconsequential  ass  I 
ever  saw  in  my  life.  See  here!  If  I  should 
lend  you  a  hundred,  what  would  you  do  with 
it  ?" 


THE  MAN  WITH  THE  GLASS  EYE     *2i 

"A  hundred?  Oh,  a  hundred!  WeU,  I'd 
take  Mattie  out  and  give  her  a  supper.  We 
might  get  a  fairly  decent  one  for  that.  But 
what  should  I  do  tomorrow  ?"  He  examined  the 
toes  of  his  patent  leathers,  twisting  them  about 
to  get  the  view  on  all  sides.  Sewell  thumped 
the  arm  of  his  chair  with  a  strenuous  fist. 

"That's  what  I  thought — or  something  like 
it — an  actress — and  at  your  age — br-r-r!" 

"It  would  be  a  good  thing  for  you  yourself 
to  do  'something  like  it!'  A  girl,  any  kind  of 
a  girl,  is  an  education.  But  you?  Why, 
man,  did  you  ever  in  all  your  life  get  a  fluffy 
lot  of  lace  and  feathers  and  soft,  rolypoly 
in  your  arms  and  hug  it  and  kiss  it?  Not 
you,  you  crustacean!  You  don't  know  what 
it. means.     But  look  at  me!     I  know!" 

"Never  mind  about  what  I  ever  did!"  he 
answered,  querulously.  "And  you  can't  shove 
me  off  like  that,  Dick!  I  know  you!  You're 
trying  only  to  run  me  off  on  an  infernal  tangent, 
chinning  about  something  else,  and  before  1 
am  on  to  you  you'll  have  me  good  natured 
and  forking  over  the  rhino!  But  I  won't  do 
it — again,  I've  given  you  enough.  What  you 
think  I'm  made  of  gets  me.  Why,  confound 
it — ^here!"  He  jumped  up  and  ran  to  the  desk 
in  the  corner  of  the  elegantly  furnished  room 
and  pulled  out  a  ledger.  "There!  look  at  that 
date!  Only  two  weeks  ago  I  gave  you  $500,  and 
here  you  are  again  gunning  for  a  thousand." 

"Why,"  said  Dick,  eyeing  the  book  in 
amazement,  "you  don't  mean  to  say  you  set 
down  what  I  borrow,  do  you?" 


932     EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

"Set  it  downl  Set  it  down!  Of  course  I 
set  it  down.  How  else  can  I  remember  how 
much  it  is  when  you  come  to  settle?" 

Mr.  Dick  Delancy  lay  back  and  roared. 

"Well,  of  all  the  queer  Willies!"  he  chortled. 
"I  knew,  of  course,  that  you  were  fool  enough 
to  lend  it  to  me,  but  I  didn't  suppose  you 
were  fool  enough  to  expect  ever  to  see  it 
again!" 

Sewell  slammed  the  ledger  upon  the  desk 
and  resumed  his  seat. 

"That's  enough,  Dick!"  he  said  in  a  tone  of 
exasperation.  "You  know  you'll  pay  it  in 
time,  when  your  pictures  go!  You  have  honor, 
anyway,  I  know  that." 

"Honor!  Honor!  What  has  honor  to  do 
with  it  ?  Did  honor  and  money  ever  yet  meet  ? 
It's  a  simple  matter  of  business  with  me.  I 
get  all  I  can,  the  same  as  you  do.  You  grind 
your  tenants,  I  grind  you,  somebody  else 
grinds  me,  and  it's  that  somebody  else  that  you 
grind.  And  there  you  are — the  vicious  circle! 
If  God  put  me  into  this  world  with  beauty  and 
brains,  and  put  you  into  it  with  nothing  but 
money,  why,  then,  I'll  be  generous  with  you — 
I'll  allow  you  to  feast  on  my  good  looks  and 
sample  my  gray  matter,  as  displayed  in  the 
facility  with  which  I  grind  you,  and  all  you 
have  to  do  is  to  stand  the  grind.  If  that  isn't 
generous  in  me,  what  could  be?  That's  what 
I  want  to  know." 

He  reclined  in  his  chair  with  a  self-satisfied 
expression  on  his  face,  threw  his  leg  over  the 
arm,  ran  his  fingers  through  his  thick  chestnut 


THE  MAN  WITH  THE  GLASS  EYE  aaj 

colored  hair,  tousling  and  mauling  it  fantastic- 
ally, and  blew  a  cloud  of  smoke  ceiling- 
ward. 

"Well,  I'm  aware,"  said  Sewell  meekly, 
"that  I  never  could  have  taken  my  degree  at 
college  but  for  you,  Dick,  old  man.  And  I'll 
not  soon  forget  that.  I  owe  you  a  good  deal, 
no  doubt.  But  I  don't  owe  you  everything— 
not  all  my  money.  And  sometimes  it  seems  as 
if  you  thought  I  did.  I've  coughed  up  six 
thousand  for  you  in  the  last  eighteen  months. 
It  isn't  business.  It's  worse  than  unbusiness- 
like— its  downright  tomfoolery  in  me.  How 
have  you  got  on  all  these  years  without  me — 
over  there  in  Paris,  and  Rome,  and  Venice, 
and  those  places?" 

"That's  just  itl"  explained  Mr.  Dick,  start- 
ing up.  "How  did  I?  Ask  my  creditors,  but 
don't  give  me  any  such  conundrum  as  that. 
Why,  Neil,  I'm  a  wonder  to  myself!  I  don't 
know  how  I  managed  to  pull  through.  You 
ought  to  see  the  cribs  I've  been  obliged  to 
sleep  in — barns  and  old  snaky  ruins!  And 
the  grub!  Man,  it  was  frightful,  the  whole 
experience!  I  used  to  think  of  you  and  the 
dinky  feeds  we  laid  in  together,  and  the  soft 
mattresses  in  the  dormitory,  and  the  glad 
clothes,  and — sometimes  I  felt  like  chucking 
the  complete  thing — Art  and  all  her  relations 
— and  going  in  for  groceries  or  coal  or  dry 
goods — in  them  there  are  food  and  raiment,  at 
all  events!  Or  I  could  put  on  my  natural  face 
and  pose  as  a  born  idiot  in  a  dime  museum — 
a  hundred  plunks  a  night — what!" 


224    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

"I  don*t  see  how  it  is  that  you  have  to  use 
so  much  now,  after  running  the  gait  on  nothing 
so  long,  Dick,"  Sewell  grumbled.  "I'd  do  any- 
thing for  you,  in  reason " 

''  Why,  man,  don't  you  know  that  the  greatest 
spenders  are  those  who  never  had  anything 
until  they  made  their  strike!  It's  natural,  of 
coursel  Begin  with  nothing,  finish  with  satiety; 
begin  with  satiety,  end  with  nothing!  There 
you  are!  It's  law,  the  law  of  compensation, 
which  is  universal,  working  in  all  things;  and 
do  you  suppose  I  am  going  to  sit  still  and  see 
you  break  the  law,  a  law  as  big  as  that,  spread 
everywhere?  Why,  no,  I  am  too  much  your 
friend,  old  man!  You've  always  had  enough, 
and  never  would  throw  anything.  Don't  you 
see  what  the  gods  are  doing  for  you?  They 
are  sending  you  a  clean  cut  young  fellow  like 
me  to  do  the  blowing  which  you  owe  to  the  law, 
but  which  you  refuse  to  do  yourself.  It's  per- 
fectly simple.  And  it's  your  only  salvation. 
Good  heavens,  Neil,  think  what  would  hap- 
pen to  you  if  you  should  deny  me  money,  try- 
ing to  buck  all  by  your  lonesome  against  a 
universal  law — hello!" 

The  exclamation  was  called  forth  by  the 
sudden  appearance  of  a  woman  in  the  doorway. 

"I  knocked,"  she  said  apologetically  to 
Sewell,  "and  the  gentleman  was  talking  so 
loudly  that  I  couldn't  tell  whether  you  said 
'come  in'  or  not." 

She  was  a  tall,  handsome,  somewhat  faded 
woman,  very  dark,  svelte,  and  stylish  in  a 
tailor  made  gown,  and  as  she  finished  speaking 


THE  MAN  WITH  THE  GLASS  EYE  995 

she  glanced  at  Delancy  with  a  curious  expres- 
sion in  her  large  black  eyes.  There  was  dis- 
trust in  them,  and  a  little  fear  and  a  glint  of 
indignation. 

"Mrs.  Dillingham,  my  old  friend  Delancy! 
Mrs.  Dillingham  is  our  new  lodging  mis- 
tress, Dick,"  said  Sewell.  "She  makes  it  very 
pleasant  here.  Is  there  anything,  Mrs.  Dill- 
ingham?" 

She  acknowledged  the  introduction  with  a 
conventional  nod  and  smile  at  Delancy,  and 
then  answered: 

"The  man  has  come  about  the  automo- 
bile." 

"That's  good!  Ask  him  right  up;  and 
thank  you,  Mrs.  Dillingham.  Too  bad  you 
should  have  to  come  away  up  here,  three 
flights !  I  must  have  some  sort  of  a  bell  arranged 
— or  a  speaking-tube,  or  something." 

"Oh,  it  is  nothing!  I  am  sure  you  are  very 
welcome,"  she  returned,  and  with  another 
nod  and  smile  that  included  both  men  she  went 
out,  closing  the  door  behind  her. 

Delancy  glanced  slyly  beneath  his  lashes 
at  Sewell,  and,  as  he  met  his  somewhat  sheep- 
ish eye,  burst  out  laughing. 

"Pretty  stylish  rig,  isn't  it,  for  a  lodging 
mistress — and  before  noon!" 

"Oh,  roti"  Sewell  threw  one  leg  over  the 
other  impatiently.  "You  always  think  every 
woman  in  the  house  where  I  happen  to  be  is 
after  me — or  my  money!  It's  low,  Dick, 
Quit  it!  This  is  a  good  woman,  and  does  all 
she  can  to  make  me  comfortable " 


aad   EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

"Even  to  dressing  up  in  her  glad  rags  and 
mounting  three  flights  of  stairs  to  tell  you 
you  have  a  caller,  instead  of  sending  him  right 
along,  or  deputing  a  maid!" 

"Dick! " 

"Well,  well,  no  matter!  Say  no  more. 
What  did  you  begin  the  argument  for,  anyway  ? 
It's  useless  to  give  you  advice.  You'll  fall 
into  the  trap  whatever  warning  you  may  have. 
You  never  could  look  out  for  yourself  in  any 
but  money  matters.  In  those — great  Scott! 
You  make  up  for  all  the  rest!  And  that  brings 
me  back  to  my  mutton.  What  are  you  going 
to  do  about  that  little  matter — at  once,  before 
your  man  arrives?" 

"I'm  not  going  to  give  you  a  dollar!" 

"Really,  Neil?" 

"Really,  Dick!"  Sewell  looked  at  his  friend 
with  a  determined  eye.  "In  the  first  place," 
he  went  on,  "I  can't  spare  it  now.  Every- 
thing is  tied  up  so  tightly  that  I  can't  lay  hold 
of  what  I  need  myself.  All  the  ready  cash 
I've  got  is  in  that  desk,  two  thousand,  and 
that  is  going  for  the  auto  tomorrow,  providing 
the  machine  suits — as  I  have  no  doubt  it  will 
do.  I  shall  be  terribly  short  for  three  or  four 
days " 

"  'Caterwauling  calamities  cannonading  come 
Dealing  death's  devastating  doom * 

The  man  is  to  be  broke  for  three  days!" 
uttered  Delancy  in  great  horror. 

Sewell  waved  his  hand  impatiently. 

"And  there's  another  thing,  Dick.  I  feel 
sure  that  you  will  sell  your  pictures — in  time. 


THE  MAN  WITH  THE  GLASS  EYE  aa; 

And  then  you'll  pay  up.  Of  course!  But  it 
may  be  a  long  time,  and  I  don't  feel  like  lend- 
ing— er — er " 

He  paused,  puffing  his  pipe  uncomfortably. 

"Proceed,"  said  Delancy,  eyeing  him  won- 
deringly. 

"Well,  hang  it,  you're  always  slipping  into 
the  poor  old  uncle  sol  Of  course,  I  am  aware 
that  he  was  a  grinder,  piling  up  all  he  could 
get  hold  of  in  any  old  way,  denying  himself 
everything,  and  'doing'  everybody  that  he  could, 
and  all  that.  I'm  reaping  all  the  good  of  the 
harvest  he  sowed,  and  it  doesn't  seem  the 
square  thing  in  me  to  give  or  even  lend  his 
money  to  a  man  who  despises  his  memory, 
loading  him  down  with  all  the  opprobrious 
epithets  in  the  book  of  slang.  He  wasn't  a 
good  sort  at  all,  I  admit,  and  there  is  something 
in  your  point  of  view  that  appeals  to  me  a  little 
— that  poetic  justice  is  being  done  when  a  high 
roller  like  you  gets  hold  of  a  skinflint's  money 
and  distributes  it  all  over  the  world  that  he 
skinned.  I  suppose  that  is  one  great  reason 
why  I  have  let  you  milk  me  so.  But  I'm 
through  now,  Dick.  At  least  I  can't  do  any- 
thing for  you  today.  I  must  think  it  over. 
You  have  always  had  a  better  time  than  I  have, 
anyway,  if  I  am  the  prince  and  you  are  the 
pauper,  as  you  so  often  have  said.  Look  at 
my  bald  nut  and  white  hairs — and  you  haven't 
a  sign  of  age  about  you,  though  we  are  both 
35.    You  don't  look  30." 

"Aha,    so    that's    it — ^jealousy!"    exploded 
Delancy,  immenselv  pleased.     "  Why  don't  you 


228    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

cut  out  worrying,  you  poor  old  addle  headed 
hippopotamus?  That's  what's  the  matter  with 
you " 

A  rap  at  the  door  interrupted  him.  Smil- 
ing, he  arose  as  the  automobile  agent  appeared, 
winked  at  Sewell,  clapped  on  his  hat,  and 
departed,  humming  a  gay  air. 

"Dick!  Dick!"  exclaimed  Sewell  in  an 
excitement  of  contrition.  "Yell  at  him,  will 
you,  Mr.  Burbank!  Tell  him  to  come  back — 
I  want  him!" 

Mr.  Burbank  shot  into  the  hall,  crying, 
"Mr.  Dick!  Mr-er-Dick!  Hi-hi!"  No  answer! 
He  ran  down  the  stairs,  the  three  flights,  and 
even  opened  the  front  door,  looking  up  and 
down  the  street.  There  v.'as  no  sign  of  Mr. 
Dick  Delancy,  and  he  returned  with  the  decla- 
ration that  it  was  curious  that  he  had  disap- 
peared so  suddenly,  but  he  was  gone.  There 
was  no  doubt  about  that.  It  was  one  of  the 
most  singular  things  that  he  had  ever 
heard  of  I 

"Why,  Mr.  Sewell,"  he  said,  with  bulging 
eyes,  "I  passed  him  right  here  in  this  doorway, 
and  immediately  he  vanished!  Where  did  he 
go?    Up  stairs " 

"There's  only  the  roof  up  there,"  inter- 
rupted Sewell,  perplexedly,  "and  at  the  head 
of  the  stairs  is  a  trapdoor  locked  with  a  pad- 
lock. He  couldn't  get  out  that  way — and 
what  the  nation  would  he  want  to  for?" 

"But  he  didn't  go  down,  that  is  certain! 
He  wouldn't  have  had  time  even  to  drop  bodily 
down  the  stair  rail  well!" 


THE  MAN  WITH  THE  GLASS  EYE  239 

Mr.  Burbank  was  a  small  man  of  sandy 
complexion,  with  nervous  light  eyes,  which 
were  now  dancing  in  excitement. 

Sewell  sat  with  wrinkled  brows.  He  had 
not  moved  from  the  chair  in  which  he  was 
sitting  when  Delancy  left  him. 

"I'm  not  going  to  talk  'automobile'  today," 
he  said,  suddenly.  "I  don't  feel  like  it.  But 
I'm  inclined  to  ask  a  favor  of  you,  Mr.  Bur- 
bank." 

"You  are  welcome,  Mr.  Sewell,  whatever 
it  is,"  answered  Mr.  Burbank,  with  the  readi- 
ness of  a  salesman  dealing  with  a  good  cus- 
tomer. 

"I've  done  my  best  friend  an  injustice," 
Sewell  went  on,  rising  and  putting  his  pipe 
in  the  rack.  "I  want  you  to  help  me  right  it. 
Take  me  in  the  auto  to  his  rooms,  the  Fen- 
wag,  will  you?  That  will  be  as  good  as 
a  longer  spin,  and  we'll  let  it  go  at  that. 
I  am  sure  I  shall  accept  the  machine,  any- 
way." 

"With  pleasure.  Let  me  help  you  with 
your   overcoat — why,   what's   the   matter?" 

Sewell  was  standing,  his  light  overcoat  on 
his  arm,  before  an  open  drawer  in  his  desk, 
his  face  as  pale  as  ashes.  That  instant  he 
tottered  and  fell  weakly  into  the  chair  he  had 
just  vacated. 

"Good  God!"  he  gasped. 

"Why— why— what  is  it?" 

"Good  God!"  Sewell  muttered  again,  dash- 
ing his  hand  against  his  forehead.  "Oh, 
Dick,  Dick,  Dick!" 


230    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

"Mr.  Sewell,  if  there  is  anything  I  can  do 
"  began  Mr.  Burbank,  anxiously. 

"For  heaven's  sake  keep  still,  and  let  me 
think!"  cried  Sewell  distractedly.  "Some- 
body has  stolen  two  thousand — let  me  think — 
let  me  think!" 

He  dropped  his  coat  on  the  floor,  sank 
back  in  his  chair,  and  covered  his  face  with  his 
hands.  The  automobile  agent  stood  embar- 
rassed before  him,  not  knowing  what  to  do. 
The  situation  continued  some  moments.  Then 
Sewell  roused  himself. 

"Burbank,"  he  said,  with  a  business-like 
air,  which,  though  plainly  forced  and  with  the 
greatest  eiffort,  was  determined,  "will  you  step 
down  to  the  front  room  on  the  first  floor  and 
ask  Mrs.  Dillingham  to  come  up  here?" 

And  as  the  automobile  agent  hurried  to  do 
his  bidding  he  again  buried  his  face  in  his  hands. 

"Dick,  Dick,  poor  old  Dick!"  he  groaned. 
"Oh,  why,  for  heaven's  sake,  couldn't  you 
wait  until  this  poor  fit  passed  away  from  me! 
I'd  have  given  it  to  you,  Dick!  You  knew  I 
would!  Why,  Dick,  we're  chums!  How  could 
you  forget  it !  And  you'll  be  famous  some  day, 
with  your  art — I  know  it — I've  always  said  so — 
you're  a  genius — and  to  think  that  you  could 
stoop — .  But,  by  heavens,  if  it  is  you,  I'll 
prosecute  you  to   the .     Come  in!" 

Mrs.  DiUingham  entered,  Burbank  holding 
the  door  for  her,  and  stood  waiting  while  Sewell 
gazed  at  her  undeterminately. 

"I — I  thought  I  would  ask  you,  Mrs.  Dil- 
lingham,"  he   hesitated,   "whether  you   could 


THE  MAN  WITH  THE  GLASS  EYE  231 

say .     But  please  take  this  seat!    Sit  down, 

Burbank!    I  wish  you  both  to  hear." 

He  jumped  up  and  offered  his  chair  to  the 
woman,  who  accepted  it  with  grace.  Mr. 
Burbank  sat  on  the  couch,  looking  from  the 
one  to  the  other  anxiously.  Sewell  walked 
over  to  his  desk  and  put  his  hand  on  it. 

"Mrs.  Dillingham,"  he  said,  "it  is  unfor- 
tunate— but — but — and  you  are  so  recently 
come  here — I  shouldn't  wish  you  to  receive 
the  opinion  that  the  neighborhood  is  bad — but 
the  fact  is,  $2,000  have  been  taken  from  this 
desk  this  morning.  I  was  out  of  the  rooms 
for  only  an  hour,  and — and  was  there  any- 
body in  here,  besides  the  maid,  during  that 
time?" 

His  manner  was  strained.  It  would  not 
require  a  superlative  degree  of  insight  in  a 
listener,  certainly  no  greater  degree  than  this 
woman  possessed,  to  see  that  he  was  fighting 
against  a  conviction  in  his  own  mind,  and  that 
even  to  him  the  question  was  irrelevant. 

"Mr.  Sewell,"  she  answered,  with  dignity, 
sitting  straight  in  her  chair,  "I  hope  I  con- 
duct my  house  properly " 

"  Oh,  I  beg  you  a  thousand  times  to  pardon 
me!"  Sewell  exclaimed,  "I  did  not  mean  that. 
It  is  very  far  from  my  intention  to  charge  the 
maid  or  anybody  connected  with  your " 

"I  should  think  not,"  the  lodging  mistress 
interrupted,  with  curved  eyebrows,  and  rising. 
"And,"  she  continued,  with  contracted  lins,  "if 
you  want  to  know  who  got  your  money  I  can 
tell  you!" 


232     EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

Sewell  shivered.  He  felt  what  was  coming, 
and  he  dreaded  it  horribly;  but  his  code  of 
ethics,  which  taught  him  to  hold  honesty, 
business  honesty,  above  all  other  qualities  in 
a  man,  and  to  punish  its  lack  implacably, 
inspired  him  with  bravery,  or  at  least  with 
bravado.  He  straightened  up,  clutching  the 
desk  to  steady  himself. 

"That  is  what  I  wish,"  he  said,  and  his 
voice  caught  in  his  throat  so  that  it  seemed 
as  if  a  frightened  child  were  speaking. 

"Mr.  Sewell,"  she  answered,  holding  her 
head  high,  "there  has  been  nobody  but  me  in 
this  room  today,  except  that  rowdy — that — 
friend  of  yours,  Mr.  Delancy.  I  made  up  your 
apartments  myself,  while  you  were  out,  and 
if  you  care  to  know  what  I  think " 

Sewell  made  a  gesture  of  denial. 

"I  feel  extremely  obliged  to  you,  Mrs. 
Dillingham,"  he  interpolated,  hastily,  "for  all 
your  trouble  regarding  this  trifling  matter. 
Allow  me!" 

He  opened  the  door  for  her  and  stood  politely 
waiting.  She  moved  to  the  threshold,  and  then 
turned  her  flashing  eyes  on  him. 

"I  have  always  known  that  man  was  rob- 
bing you,"  she  hissed,  "and  I  have  been  afraid, 
because  I  was  sure  that  sooner  or  later  you 
would  lay  it  on  me,  or  on  the  house  in  some 
way.  I  have  been  here  only  three  weeks,  but 
I  have  heard  and  seen " 

He  began  closing  the  door.  She  stepped 
over  the  sill,  and  then  discharged  her  Parthian 
shot: 


THE  MAN  WITH  THE  GLASS  EYE  93J 

"And  I  heard  him  say  to  you  this  very 
morning  that  something  terrible  would  happen 
if  you  refused  him  money  today " 

The  door  closed  and  her  voice  ceased. 

The  automobile  man  looked  at  Sewell 
curiously. 

"Did  he  threaten  you?"  he  asked. 

"No,  no,  nonsense!  He  was  chaffing  about 
a  universal  law,  and  my  bucking  against  it. 
He  said  something  about  things  happening  to 
me  if  I  did  so,  jokingly,  in  his  way,  and  this 
ignorant  woman " 

"Do  you  know  what  I  think?"  cried  Bur- 
bank  excitedly.  "She  took  it!  See  the  way 
she  acted — tried  to  be  dignified  under  her 
paint — and  was  the  only  one  in  here — and 
tried  to  lay  it  on  somebody  else " 

Sewell  groaned. 

"Burbank,"  he  said  in  a  low  voice,  "to  me 
stealing  money  is  the  meanest,  the  lowest,  most 
abominable  thing  a  man  can  do;  and  my  heart 
is  broken.  I  had  that  vulgar  woman  brought 
up  here  only  in  hope  of  something — something 
impossible!  I  knew — I  knew!  Yet  I  wished 
to  evade  the  knowledge.  And  hoped  against 
hope  that  she  would  give  me  some  reason  to 
do  so.  But  she  only  added  to  it.  Good 
heavens,  Burbank!"  he  almost  shouted,  start- 
ing toward  him  with  hands  stretched  out, 
"think  of  it!  A  man  you  love — a  man  who  is 
your  dearest  friend — a  man  for  whom  you 
would  do  anything  in  reason — a  man  who  has 
done  things  for  you,  too,  even  beyond  reason, 
who  has  given  his  time  to  you,  time  that  was 


S34    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

worth  money  to  him,  while  you  had  all  the 
money  and  he  had  none " 

"There,  there,  calm  yourself,  Mr.  Sewell!" 
exclaimed  Burbank  soothingly,  putting  his 
arm  around  Sewell's  shoulders  and  guiding  him 
to  the  Morris  chair,  "Come,  it's  a  small  matter. 
to  you,  and,  besides,  you  are  not  sure  it  was 
he.  How  can  you  be  ?  There  are  lots  of  ways 
out  of  it.  I  should  sooner  suspect  the  woman. 
She  looks  like  it,  fast  enough!" 

"Man!"  cried  Sewell  with  sudden  energy, 
"  it  is  not  a  small  matter — the  principle  isn't! 
And  I  know — I  know — See  here!  I  put  that 
package  of  bills  into  that  drawer  while  Dick 
Delancy  was  here,  observing  me  do  it !  Nobody 
comes  in  until  he  leaves,  and  the  next  moment 
I  find  that  the  money  is  gone — at  the  same 
time  he  goes!  Not  a  soul  in  the  room  besides 
us  two  in  the  meantime!  And  he  was  all 
over  the  place — ten  times  at  the  desk,  as  well 
as  at  every  other  spot  in  the  apartment!  What 
can  I  think!     What  can  I  but  know?" 

"If  I  can  do  anything,  Mr.  Sewell " 

Sewell  arose,  walked  to  the  pipe  rack,  put 
his  hand  on  a  pipe,  a  great  meerschaum  with 
a  figure  supposed  to  be  that  of  Lief,  the  Norse- 
man, on  it,  and,  as  if  inspired  by  contact  with 
the  image,  turned  with  sudden  rage  on  the  agent. 

"Get  out  of  here!"  he  howled.  "Never  let 
me  see  you  again!  Confound  it,  can't  a  man 
be  let  alone  in  his  own  place!" 

"  Why,  Mr.  Sewell" — began  the  man,  startled. 

"Leave  the  room!"  commanded  Sewell, 
fiercely. 


THE  MAN  WITH  THE  GLASS  EYE  335 

Mr.  Burbank  looked  at  him  an  instant. 
Then,  with  raised  eyebrows,  he  picked  up  his 
hat,  and,  an  expression  of  injury  in  his  face, 
opened  the  door,  bowed  with  dignity,  and  with- 
drew. 

Sewell  stood  looking  after  him  with  the  gaze 
of  a  blind  man.  Then  he  fumbled  at  the  pipes, 
taking  up  one  and  putting  it  down,  repeating 
the  operation  with  others,  finally  turning  away 
altogether.  As  he  did  so  his  eyes  fell  on  a 
morning  newspaper  that  lay  on  a  chair,  with 
the  following  headlines  staring  at  him: 

DR.     FURNIVALL'S     MYSTERIOUS 

POWER    AGAIN! 
ANOTHER  CRIMINAL  FOUND  BY  ITS 

AID! 
SCIENTISTS  AND  POLICE  ALIKE  PUZ- 
ZLED    BY     THIS     OCCULT     FORCE 
WHICH  COMPELS  A  MAN  ALWAYS  TO 
SPEAK  THE  TRUTH! 

"Jove!"  he  cried.  "The  very  thing!  Why 
didn't  I  think  of  him  at  once!" 

In  less  than  a  quarter  or  an  hour  from  that 
moment  he  was  telling  his  story  to  Dr.  Furni- 
vall. 

'•'As  I  understand  it,  then,"  said  the  doc- 
tor, regarding  him  through  his  colored  spec- 
tacles, "you  can't  believe  that  this  rather 
frivolous  friend  of  yours  is  guilty,  while  at  the 
same  time  you  must  believe  it  because  all  the 
circumstances  indicate  his  guilt." 

"Yes,  yes,  that  is  it!"  cried  Sewell.  "And 
I  was  hoping  that,  with  your  hypnotism,  you 


236    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

might  force  him  to  confess — privately,  you 
know!  We  would  have  no  publicity  about  it, 
and  all  that.  The  confession  would  be  pun- 
ishment enough  for  him — and  I  would  let 
him  keep  the  money,  and  he  could  go  away. 
For    I    can't    have    him    around    any  longer 


"It  appears  to  me,"  said  Dr.  Fumivall, 
sitting  back  in  his  chair,  "that  you  have  begun 
at  the  wrong  end  of  the  matter.  It  is  true 
that  from  what  you  say  your  friend  is  a  spend- 
thrift, altogether  too  light  of  mind  for  his  own 
material  good,  but  that  does  not  make  him  a 
thief.  If  it  did  most  all  our  artists  would  be 
thieves.  And  to  steal  from  his  own  best  friend, 
too!  Isn't  that  an  enormous  charge  to  make " 

"But  the  circumstances!  the  circumstances!" 
Sewell  burst  forth,  excitedly.  "I  tell  you  I  put 
that  money  into  the  desk  while  he  was  there 
— he  saw  me  do  it — and  not  another  soul  was 
in  the  room  from  that  moment  until  I  missed 
it " 

"There  was  the  lodging  mistress,  and  there 
was  Burbank!" 

"Oh,  but  they  don't  count!  How  can 
they?  Dick  and  I,  both  of  us,  had  our  eyes 
on  the  woman  every  instant  she  was  there " 

"No  matter  if  you  did  have!  Human 
affairs  take  on  strange  twists  sometimes.  The 
money  might  not  have  been  in  the  desk  at  all 
— might  have  rolled  to  the  floor,  where  she 
could  kick  it  behind  her  out  of  the  door  as 
she  entered,  under  cover  of  her  skirts — a 
dozen  different  ways  might-- " 


THE  MAN  WITH  THE  GLASS  EYE  237 

Sewell  shook  his  head  hopelessly. 

"No,  no  it  is  useless,"  he  interrupted. 
"It  was  there  in  the  drawer,  and  the  drawer 
was  open,  so  that  I  could  see  it  all  the  time. 
I  did  not  move  from  my  chair,  except  once, 
when  I  went  to  the  desk  for  a  ledger,  after 
putting  the  package  of  bills  into  that  drawer, 
and  I  was  facing  it  every  instant  until  I  sud- 
denly missed  it,  nobody  having  approached 
it  m  the  meantime  except  Dick." 

"The   other   man,   Mr.    Burbank,   he " 

"Oh,  he  passed  Dick  in  the  doorway.  Bur- 
bank  drew  back  to  give  Dick  room — hadn't  en- 
tered at  all  before  I  sent  him  to  call  Dick  back." 

"You  sent  for  Delancy  to  come  back? 
Why  didn't  he  come,  then?" 

"Burbank  couldn't  find  him.  He  had  dis- 
appeared like  a  flash  of  lightning,  and  that  is 
one  of  the  counts  against  him.  lie  must 
have  started  down  those  stairs  three  at  a  leap 
the  instant  he  reached  them.  Now,  v/hy 
should  he  do  that  unless  he  were  guilty?" 

"Do  you  mean  to  say  that  you  asked  Bur- 
bank to  call  out  to  Delancy,  who  had  just 
passed  him  in  the  doorway,  that  Burbank  had 
not  entered  the  room — so  short  a  time  as  that 
had  elapsed — and  he  could  not  make  him 
hear?" 

"I  do.  And,  further,  he  ran  as  fast  as  he 
could  safely  go  down  to  the  front  door,  and 
looked  up  and  down  the  street,  and  even  the.i 
could  see  him  nowhere." 

"After  Burbank  came  back  didn't  he  enter 
the  room?" 


238    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

"  Certainly,  but  not  until  I  had  missed  the 
money.  He  stood  right  on  the  threshold  while 
he  told  me  that  Dick  had  vanished.  I  am 
positive  of  that,  for  I  thought  at  the  time  it 
was  queer.  It  was  as  if  he  felt  timid  about 
coming  in — I  couldn't  understand  it.  It  was 
just  at  the  moment  when  I  discovered  my  loss 
that  he  first  stepped  on  the  rug,  coming  for- 
ward with  the  offer  to  assist  me  with  my  over- 
coat." 

Dr.  Fumivall  gave  a  long  look  into  his  face 
through  his  spectacles.  He  then  with  an 
ophthalmoscope  examined  his  eyes. 

"Of  what  firm  are  you  buying  your  auto- 
mobile?" he  asked  suddenly.  Sewell  told  him. 
He  went  into  the  telephone  closet,  and  after 
a  few  words  with  station  i6  put  on  his  hat, 
sajdng: 

"I  am  abdut  to  show  you  something  so 
strange  that  you  wouldn't  believe  it  possible 
until  actually  compelled  to  do  so!  Come,  let's 
go  for  a  short  walk." 

"Shall  we  call  on  Delancy  now?"  asked 
Sewell,  as  they  reached  the  sidewalk. 

"Delancy!  Oh,  no,  we  have  nothing  to  do 
with  him  at  present!  Quite  another  person! 
And  if  the  experience  teaches  you  to  accept  the 
evidence  of  character  against  circumstances — but 
there!"  He  stopped,  with  an  amused  glance  at 
Sewell.  What  did  he  know  about  reading 
character!  No  more  than  a  child  who,  because 
he  can  see  nothing  beyond  appearances,  must 
be  swayed  by  them,  and  them  alone!  "I  am 
unacquainted    with    Delancy,"    he     continued 


THE  MAN  WITH  THE  GLASS  EYE  939 

"and  can  judge  of  him  only  by  your  descrip- 
tion, which  was  meager;  but  I  should  say  he 
is  careless  rather  than  dishonest.  He  is  more 
fool  than  knave,  but  unless  I  am  greatly  mis- 
taken he  is  not  fool  enough  to  rob  you  sur- 
reptitiously, knowing  that  the  act  would  cut 
his  supplies  off,  when  he  has  so  little  diflSculty 
in  doing  it  openly  through  loans,  which  might 
go  on  indefinitely.  We  must  look  in  quite 
another  direction  for  the  thief." 

Sewell  shook  his  head.  He  had  gone  over 
all  the  details  in  his  own  mind,  and  he  could  im- 
agine no  possible  chance  of  Delancy's  being  inno- 
cent. But  he  said  nothing.  There  was  some- 
thing in  the  doctor's  manner  that  inspired  con- 
fidence, and  Sewell  felt  an  undercurrent  of 
satisfaction  in  the  view  the  celebrated  scientist 
took  of  the  case,  though  he  could  see  no  rea- 
son for  it,  and  his  mind  rejected  at  the  same 
time  that  his  heart  accepted  it.  In  a  few 
minutes  they  arrived  at  the  police  station,  and, 
to  Sewell's  surprise,  Dr.  Furnivall  took  him 
by  the  elbow  and  guided  him  up  the  steps 
and  in.  There  stood  Mr.  Burbank  talking 
with  the  desk  man,  a  policeman  on  each  side 
of  him.  The  ofl&cer,  by  a  look,  invited  Dr. 
Furnivall  forward,  and  he,  removing  his  spec- 
tacles, gazed  into  Burbank's  eyes  steadily, 
saying: 

"Mr.  Burbank,  what  do  you  know  about 
this  robbery?" 

"I    know    nothing    about    it  I"     Burbank 
exclaimed  angrily.     "It  is  monstrous  to  bring 
me  here  in  this  way  and  put  these  questions 


84©    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

to  me.  There  is  Mr.  Sewell  himself,  who 
will  testify  that  I  was  not  in  the  room  at  all 
until — "  He  started  to  turn  his  eyes  in  Sewell 's 
direction,  but  did  not  do  so.  The  head  moved 
slightly,  but  the  eyes  remained  fixed  in  Dr. 
Fumivall's.  His  face  at  first  showed  quick 
surprise,  then  the  expression  changed  to  be- 
wilderment, from  that  to  earnestness,  and 
then  both  face  and  eyes  became  deeply  intro- 
spective. It  was  not  ten  seconds  from  the 
time  of  Dr.  Furnivall's  first  glance  into  the 
eyes  to  the  moment  when  it  became  evident 
to  the  hypnotist  that  he  was  under  control. 
He  then  asked  at  once: 

"Mr.  Burbank,  who  took  that  money?" 

"I  did!"  he  answered  without  a  hint  of 
inflection  in  his  voice.  It  was  as  if  a  machine 
were  speaking.  Sewell  started  forward  with 
an  exclamation  of  astonishment  and  disbelief, 
but   Dr.   Furnivall   waved   him  back. 

"  How  could  you  do  it  ?  Start  at  the  begin- 
ning and  tell  me  all  about  it." 

"I  came  up  the  stairs,  and  was  just  going 
to  knock  on  the  door  when  I  heard  Mr.  Sewell 
say  he  had  $2,000  in  the  desk.  I  waited  a 
moment  and  then  rapped.  A  man  came  out, 
singing,  and  I  entered  the  room,  saying  'How 
do  you  do,  Mr.  Sewell?'  He  did  not  seem  to 
see  me — sat  in  a  sort  of  trance,  gazing  after 
the  man  who  had  just  gone  out.  I  thought 
instantly  of  the  money  in  the  desk,  and,  glanc- 
ing over  there,  saw  it  in  an  open  drawer.  I 
looked  at  him  again.  He  still  had  that  far 
away   light    in    his    eyes.     I    remembered    the 


THE  MAN  WITH  THE  GLASS  EYE     «4i 

peculiar  expression — my  grandfather  used  to 
be  that  way,  and  many  a  time  I  had  taken 
things  right  out  from  under  his  nose  without 
his  being  aware  of  it.  It's  a  sort  of  disease, 
I  suppose,  with  old  people,  but  I  never  had 
seen  it  in  a  young  man  before.  I  was  almost 
too  much  afraid  to  risk  it,  and,  in  fact,  I  spoke 
to  him  the  second  time  to  test  him.  As  he 
did  not  answer,  I  gained  courage  and  in  three 
steps  snatched  the  package  of  bills,  slipped 
them  into  my  overcoat  pocket,  and  darted 
back  to  the  door.  Then  I  spoke  again,  and 
still  again,  but  he  did  not  hear.  His  mind 
was  too  busy  with  its  own  thoughts.  I  couldn't 
help  thinking  of  the  story  Mark  Twain  tells 
of  the  woman.  He  was  sitting  on  the  piazza 
when  he  saw  her  coming  up  the  walk  toward 
him,  and  suddenly  she  disappeared  as  if  the 
ground  had  swallowed  her  up.  He  found  that 
she  had  passed  right  by  him,  rung  the  door 
bell  at  his  side,  and  been  admitted  to  the  house 
without  his  seeing  her.  I  explained  that  by 
absent-mindedness.  He  was  thinking  so  deeply 
of  something  else  that  he  had  no  room  in  his 
memory  for  her.  My  grandfather  had  been 
that  way,  I  have  seen  drunken  men  that  way, 
and  Mr.  Sewell  was  that  wav.  It  didn't  last 
long — perhaps  a  minute.  lie  suddenly  woke 
up,  and,  as  if  his  friend  had  just  left,  sang  out 
to  him;  and  as  there  was  no  answer  he  asked 
me  to  yell,  too,  and  I  went  down  the  stairs 
even  to  the  front  door.  But,  of  course,  the 
man  was  clean  out  of  sight  by  that  time." 
"Where  is  the  money?" 


343     EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

"Here!' 

He  produced  it  as  he  spoke,  and  Dr.  Furni- 
vall  passed  it  over  to  the  bewildered  Sewell. 

"You  are  diseased,"  he  said  to  him,  "af- 
flicted with  cerebrovacuisitis,  otherwise  oph- 
thavitreousitis,  otherwise  the  glass  eye.  But, 
seriously,  you  are  suffering  from  amnesia, 
and  you  were  near  to  making  your  friend 
settle  dearly  for  your  sickness.  Go  home 
now  and  take  care  of  yourself.  Call  in  a  phy- 
sician. He  will  tell  you,  among  other  things, 
to  quit  your  eternal  smoking,  exercise  more, 
choose  your  food,  not  for  its  daintiness  and 
the  taste  of  it,  but  for  the  good,  honest  blood 
it  will  make;  and,  above  all,  to  occupy  your 
mind  with  some  useful  avocation.  Then  you 
will  be  able  to  see  what  is  going  on — or  what 
is  going  on  under  your  very  nose  at  least!" 


The  Kleptomaniac 


THE  KLEPTOMANIAC 


A  little  old  man  with  a  warty  face,  hooked 
nose,  wide  mouth,  stooping  shoulders,  small 
beady  black  eyes,  and  a  generally  inferior 
presence,  but  nevertheless  with  decision  of 
character  in  his  manner,  to  one  who  could 
see  beneath  the  surface,  walked  swiftly  up 
the  steps  of  police  station  i6  and  accosted 
the  first  man  in  uniform  he  met. 

"There  has  been  the  most  unheard  of 
crime "  he  began. 

"Speak  to  the  lieutenant!"  the  ofl&cer  inter- 
rupted, nodding  toward  the  desk  behind  the 
high  network  iron  railing. 

The  ugly  little  man  advanced  to  the  pigeon- 
hole window,  through  which  he  could  see  the 
upper  part  of  the  night  desk  man. 

"I  have  just  been  robbed  in  the  most  mon- 
strous way,"  he  said,  speaking  rapidly,  but  with 
no  sign  of  excitement,  "and  I  wish  no  pub- 
licity  " 

"I'll  take  care  of  that.     We  don't  need  any 

advice  from  you "   began   the  lieutenant. 

But  he  stopped  there  to  glance  at  the  visiting 
card  which  the  little  man  placed  before  him, 
and  when  he  raised  his  eyes  again  to  his  caller's 
face  he  e-ho  raised  his  body  from  his  chair  and 
bONved,  touching  his  round  silk  oflSce  cap. 

"Excuse  me,  Mr.  Emmons,"  he  said,  "I 
didn't  know  it  was  you.     We  have  to  be  pretty 


246    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

short  here  with  strangers,  or  they'd  ride  right 
over  us.  But  with  the  richest  man  in  the 
district Step  in  this  way,  sir,  please!" 

He  swung  wide  the  gate  in  the  railing.  The 
richest  man  in  the  district  walked  in  and  seated 
himself  in  the  chair  that  the  officer  drew  up 
for  him  in  a  retired  comer. 

"Now,  sir,  no  publicity,  you  say?  Very 
well!    We'll  do  all  we  can." 

He  waited  with  respectful  attention  for  the 
story. 

"It's  a  queer  matter,"  began  Mr.  Emmons 
at  once,  in  the  incisive  voice,  which,  coming 
from  such  an  insignificant  appearing  personality, 
always  excited  surprise  in  a  listener  and  drew 
his  attention.  "In  the  first  place  I  must  tell 
you  that  a  few  days  ago  our  firm  became  pos- 
sessed, in  the  way  of  business,  of  one  of  the 
most  valuable  diamonds  in  the  world.  It  has 
a  name  famous  in  history — but  no  matter  about 
that.     The  chief  thing  is  that  it  is  worth — well, 

say — er "     He    paused    with    the    shrewd 

glint  in  his  eye  that  was  known  among  his 
business  acquaintances  as  the  sure  sign  that 
he  was  not  going  to  commit  himself,  and  then 
added,  "thousands,"  as  evenly  as  if  the  word 
were  "hundreds."  The  lieutenant  could  not 
restrain  an  exclamation. 

"Ah!"  he  breathed,  his  face  flushing  with 
the  thought  of  fat  rewards. 

"This  diamond,"  went  on  the  great  jeweler, 
with  no  hint,  either  in  voice  or  manner,  of  the 
terrific  surprise  he  was  about  to  give  his  listeners, 
"was  swallowed  this  evening  by  my  wife's  pet 


THE  KLEPTOMANIAC  247 

monkey,  and  in  less  than  two  minutes  after- 
ward the  monkey  was  stolen!" 

The  officer's  full,  round  face  became  almost 
apoplectic. 

"A  mo-monkey!"  he  stammered. 

"I  will  give  you  the  main  points  of  the 
case  so  that  you  may  know  how  to  start  the 
investigation  intelligently,"  continued  the  jeweler 
in  a  clear,  rapid,  matter  of  fact  tone.  They 
were  odd  traits,  this  clarity  of  head  and  speech, 
this  iciness  and  poise,  which  nothing  could 
melt  or  disturb,  in  a  man  of  such  an  inferior 
aspect,  never  failing  to  evoke  in  a  stranger,  and 
often  in  every-day  acquaintances  as  well,  the 
same  stare  of  wonderment  with  which  the 
policeman  was  now  regarding  him  as  he  went 
on: 

"For  reasons  of  a  strictly  private  nature  I 
took  this  valuable  diamond  home  this  evening. 
Two  other  men,  well  known  diamond  cutters, 
were  the  only  living  persons  who  knew  I  had  it 
in  the  house.  It  was  to  show  it  to  them,  and 
consult  with  them  about  it,  that  I  brought  it 
there.  We  three  had  been  examining  it  for 
ten  minutes,  perhaps,  and  I  was  holding  it  up 
to  the  light  between  my  thumb  and  finger, 
when  the  monkey  leaped  in  at  the  door  like 
a  flash  of  lightning,  snatched  the  stone,  and 
swallowed  it.  It  nearly  choked  him,  and, 
jabbering  and  twisting  in  pain,  he  ran  to  his 
mistress  four  doors  away.  I  followed  him 
immediately  and  found  him  whimpering  in 
my  wife's  arms.  I  thought  at  first  of  giving 
him  an  emetic  to  make  him  vomit  it  up,  but 


248    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DE'I  EC  TIVE 

Mrs.  Emmons  suggested  that  it  would  be  safer 
to  call  a  physician,  and  then  I  decided  on  doing 
that.  We  might  have  to  cut  the  animal  open. 
So  cautioning  her  to  hold  on  to  him  and  not 
let  him  escape  I  hastened  to  the  telephone 
closet,  but  before  I  could  get  the  physician's 
number  I  heard  my  wife  scream,  and,  hurrying 
back  to  her  room,  I  found  her  collapsed  on  the 
floor,  crying  out  that  a  woman  had  suddenly 
rushed  in,  grabbed  Bruno,  and  fled  out  of  the 
door  with  him  in  her  arms. 

"That  is  practically  the  case.  Of  course, 
we  searched  the  premises  inside  and  out  at 
once,  but  to  no  purpose.  The  stone,  the 
monkey,  and  the  thief  had  vanished  as  if  by 
spontaneous  combustion.  Now  ask  your  ques- 
tions, for  I  suppose  you  have  some  to  ask?" 

The  lieutenant  indeed  had;  but  he  was 
almost  too  much  astonished  to  speak.  If 
the  narrator  of  this  queer  story  had  not  been 
the  richest  man  in  the  district  he  would  have 
thought  him  either  a  practical  joker  or  a  limatic. 
Finally  he  found  his  voice. 

"There  was  no  chance  for  either  of  those 
men  you  were  showing  it  to " 

"Not  the  slightest.  I  was  always  between 
them  and  my  vvifc's  room,  even  when  I  was 
at  the  telephone.  In  fact,  in  the  telephone 
closet  I  stood  facing  them,  and  could  see  them 
all  the  time  through  the  doorway.  Until  Mrs. 
Emmons  screamed  they  never  moved  from 
their  scats,  though  then  they  ran  with  me  to 
licr  room.  Besides,  the  thief  was  seen,  and 
was  a  woman." 


THE  KLEPTOMANIAC  840 

"Is  the  telephone  fixture  near  Mrs.  Emmons* 
room?" 

"Yes;  but  the  walls  are  circular  in  shape, 
rounding  outward  into  the  hall,  so  that  a  per- 
son coming  from  the  rear  of  the  house,  keeping 
close  to  the  north  partition,  might  enter  her 
door  without  being  seen  by  one  in  the  telephone 
closet." 

"Hm-m!"  The  lieutenant  cleared  his  throat. 
"Why  do  you  wish  to  keep  the  matter  quiet, 
Mr.  Emmons?  It  seems  to  me  the  more 
publicity  that  is  given " 

"To  the  loss  of  a  monkey,  doubtless  the 
better — yes.  But  nothing  must  be  known 
about  the  diamond.  We  should  be  sure  never 
to  see  it  again." 

"Yes,  yes — of  course.  We  will  work  quietly. 
Every  night  man  in  the  city  shall  be  notified 
as  soon  as  possible  to  be  on  the  lookout  for 
the  monkey.  If  you  will  write  a  description 
of  him  I'll  see  that  it  is  given  to  the  men.  A 
little  reward,  now " 

He  looked  inquiringly  at  Mr.  Emmons,  who 
nodded. 

"A  hundred  dollars,"  he  said.  "Great 
family  pet.  Worth  nothing  to  anybody  but 
the  owners.  I  think  it  should  be  put  that 
way." 

"Could  Mrs.  Emmons  say  how  the  woman 
looked?" 

"She  saw  her  very  plainly.  She  was  short, 
plump,  red  cheeked,  with  black  eyes  that 
seemed  to  strike  out  sparks  as  she  snatched 
the  animal,  and  with  hair  so  white  that  the 


as©   EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

contrast  between  it  and  her  fresh  face  and 
youthful  form  was  nothing  less  than  startling. 
We  knew  nobody  of  that  description,  neither 
among  our  friends  nor  among  the  servants 
and  tradespeople.  Her  dress,  too,  was  the 
oddest  imaginable — a  yachting  cap  of  blue, 
with  a  small  visor  worn  sidewise  over  her  ear, 
a  short  Eton  jacket,  and  flowing  out  from  under 
it  a  voluminous  train  of  salmon  colored  satin, 
over  white,  high  heeled  shoes.  This  train  she 
threw  over  her  arm,  covering  Bruno  completely 
and  hiding  him  from  sight  as  she  rushed  from 
the  room.  Her  appearance  was  so  wild  that 
Mrs.  Emmons  took  her  for  a  crazy  person 
who  had  escaped  from  some  hospital.  That 
is  what  frightened  her  so.  An  ordinary  woman 
coming  in  on  her  in  that  manner  would  not 
have  got  off  so  easily,  for  Mrs.  Emmons  is 
brave  enough  and  quick  enough  to  act.  But 
this  nondescript  fairly  scared  her  strength 
away.  In  fact,  she  never  in  her  life  came  so 
near  fainting." 

"You  saw  nothing  of  the  woman?" 
"No,  the  door  was  beyond  my  view.  She 
must  have  come  and  gone  like  a  flash  of  light- 
ning, as  Mrs.  Emmons  said.  She  didn't  know 
she  was  in  the  room  until  she  saw  her  eyes 
sparkling  into  her  own  and  felt  Bruno  being 
pulled  out  of  her  lap." 

"But  where  could  she  have  come  from 
and  where  could  she  disappear  to  so  sudden- 
ly?" said  the  lieutenant,  staring  at  him.  "It 
sounds  like  witchcraft.  What  guess  can  you 
make,  Mr.  Emmons?" 


THE  KLEPTOMANIAC  251 

Mr.  Emmons  threw  out  his  hands. 
"None  at  all,"  he  said.  "She  simply  could 
not  get  into  the  house  by  the  back  way,  through 
a  gate  and  two  doors,  all  of  which  were  fastened, 
pass  among  eight  servants  at  least,  mount 
two  flights  of  stairs,  and  appear  on  the  scene 
at  the  very  instant  of  time  necessary  to  ac- 
complish her  purpose.  And  if  she  couldn't 
get  in  she  couldn't  get  out.  By  the  front  way 
she  would  be  obliged  to  pass  me." 
"None  of  the  servants  saw  her?" 
"No.  That  is,  one  of  them,  a  half  imbe- 
cile, came  to  the  conclusion  that  she  had  dis- 
tinguished what  looked  like  a  dark  shape 
running  down  the  back  stairs  to  the  basement; 
but  she  did  not  reach  this  conclusion  until 
she  had  found  out  that  something  mysterious 
was  going  on  and  that  she  would  be  regarded 
as  a  heroine  if  she  had  seen  anything  of  it.  I 
am  convinced  that  her  first  denials  were  un- 
doubtedly the  real  truth.  The  rest  was  a 
vivid  fancy." 

"Hm-m!"  The  lieutenant,  who  had  made 
a  number  of  notes,  now  put  down  another 
one,  coughing  deprecatingly  as  he  did  so. 
"Every  little  straw  shows  something  of  the 
wind's  direction,  Mr.  Emmons,"  he  said. 
"However,  we  will  come  to  that  later.  Were 
the  gate  and  the  doors  found  fastened  all  right 
after  the  theft  as  before  it?" 

"Yes;  all  locked  up  tight,  and  the  servants 
running  around  all  the  time  between  them 
and  the  stairs,  with  plenty  of  light  on — lighter 
than   in   the   daytime.     There   was   absolutely 


asa    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

no  chance  for  even  a  mouse  to  leave  the  place 
unseen  in  that  direction — or  enter  it,  either." 

"And  the  roof?" 

'I  should  certainly  have  seen  anybody  who 
should  start  up  that  way.  The  foot  of  the 
stairs  was  not  ten  feet  away  from  the  room 
•in  which  the  crime  was  done,  and  I  commanded 
a  full  view  of  them  every  instant  I  was  absent 
from  my  wife." 

The  officer  looked  up  from  his  notes  quickly. 
Then  he  scratched  his  head.  He  did  not  like 
to  contradict  a  man  worth  so  much  money 
as  Mr.  Claggett  Emmons  was,  but  it  was  cer- 
tain, from  the  description  already  given  of 
the  rooms  and  halls,  that  if  a  person  in  the 
telephone  closet  could  see  the  two  men  in  the 
front  room,  in  order  to  do  so  he  would  neces- 
sarily turn  his  back  on  the  stairway  in  the  rear. 
A  thrill  of  exultation  shot  through  the  lieuten- 
ant's breast  as  he  realized  that  this  stairway 
must  be  the  Ley  to  the  mystery.  The  foot  of 
it  was  only  ten  feet  away  from  the  door  of 
the  room  in  which  Mrs.  Emmons  sat;  while 
Mr.  Emmons  was  walking  to  the  telephone  his 
back  must  have  been  turned  on  it;  while  he 
v/as  in  the  closet  his  back  must  have  been 
turned  on  it  also  if  he  could  see  the  men  who 
sat  in  the  front  room;  and,  without  a  particle 
of  doubt,  the  woman,  who  had  been  waiting 
above,  seized  this  opportunity  to  accomplish 
her  purpose.  She  would  have  plenty  of  time 
if  she  had  acted  as  quickly  as  she  seemed  to 
have  done.  It  was  perfectly  plain.  She  had 
escaped   as   she  had   entered — by   way  of  tlie 


THE  KLEPTOMANIAC  #53 

roof.  It  was  strange  that  a  man  with  Mr. 
Emmons'  perspicacity  should  overlook  so  pal- 
pable a  truth;  but  he  had  done  so,  and  it  was 
a  matter  of  warm  self- congratulation  to  the 
ofiScer  that  he  should  prove  so  much  sharper 
than  this  man  of  heavy  affairs,  and  that,  too, 
regarding  the  arrangement  of  his  own  house. 
But  he  would  say  nothing  about  it.  It  was  a 
case  for  action  rather  than  words,  and  after  he 
had  made  the  capture  and  received  the  reward — 

At   this   point   in   the  jubilant   flow  of  his 
thoughts  he  was  struck  with  a  sudden   chill. 
Reward?     What  was  it?     A  hundred  dollars! 
He  had  been  dreaming  of  thousands! 

"I  suppose,"  he  ventured,  tapping  his  book 
with  his  pen  handle  carelessly,  "that  if  any 
one  in  the  secret — er — er — who  knew  about 
— the  diamond,  I  mean — should  find  and  re- 
turn it,  the — reward " 

The  little  old  man  glanced  keenly  at  him. 

"Of  course,"  he  said,  nodding.  "I  under- 
stand that.  A  thousand — eh?  And  influence 
— supposing  the  finder  needed  it.  Oh,  of 
course — all  that  sort  of  thing." 

The  lieutenant  breathed  freer.  A  thou- 
sand! It  was  not  so  vast  a  sum  as  his  dreams 
had  pictured,  but  it  would  do  very  well.  There 
were  ways  he  knew  of  making  it  all  his,  dividing 
only  the  hundred  for  the  monkey  with  whom- 
soever he  might  be  obliged  to  call  upon  for 
assistance  in  his  search.  He  could  already 
feel  the  crisp,  delightful  crinkling  of  the  bank 
notes  in  his  fingers.  That  woman  was  simply 
a  lunatic — he  was  sure  of  it — who  had  escaped 


254    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

from  her  home  in  some  neighboring  house  by 
way  of  the  roof,  entered  by  the  scuttle — oh,  it 
was  all  plain.    A  few  minutes  searching  among 

the  families  in  the  block But  he  must  not 

let  it  be  seen  that  he  was  getting  his  money 
too  easily  He  would  explore  the  Emmons 
mansion  first,  to  give  some  color  of  labor  to 
his  easy  task,  pretend  then  with  much  scientific 
figuring  to  evolve  a  solution  of  the  great  mys- 
tery, the  only  solution  that  could  be  possible 
under  all  the  conditions,  walk  out  with  the 
declaration  that  he  would  return  in  ten  minutes 
with  the  diamond,  according  to  the  most  ap- 
proved methods  of  detectives  in  the  fiction 
thrillers,  and  then  would  keep  his  word,  just 
as  they  do;  and  the  next  morning  he  would 
be  in  all  the  papers,  just  as  they  are,  with 
$i,ooo  in  his  inside  pocket — which  none  of 
them  ever  yet  got,  except  to  give  away,  being 
too  delicate  of  soul  to  work  for  mere  money! 

But  when  in  company  with  Mr.  Emmons 
and  a  man  from  the  office,  he  entered  the 
hall  of  the  Emmons  house,  a  few  minutes  later, 
he  grew  pale  green  with  chagrin.  In  his 
mental  plan  of  the  floor  he  had  figured  on 
straight  walls  and  staircases,  while  in  fact  there 
was  scarcely  a  straight  line  in  sight,  and  circles, 
semi-circles,  ovals,  and  spirals  predominated 
to  such  an  extent  that  there  seemed  to  his  un- 
accustomed eye  to  be  a  perfect  witches'  dance 
of  them,  turning  topsy-turvy  all  his  ideas  of 
interior  architecture.  He  stepped  into  the 
telephone  closet,  and  saw  that,  owing  to  these 
surprising    shapes,    Mr.    Emmons    had    really 


THE  KLEPTOMANIAC  9$$ 

been  right  about  facing  both  the  back  stairway 
and  the  front  room  at  the  same  time,  if  the 
ability  to  see  one  of  these  objects  out  of  one 
eye  and  the  other  out  of  the  other  eye  might 
be  called  "facing."  It  was  near  enough  to 
it  for  practical  purposes,  at  all  events,  for  the 
walls  were  so  deeply  concave  on  the  telephone 
side,  and  so  highly  convex  on  the  other,  that 
the  closet,  while  it  was  between  the  stairs  and 
the  room,  was  far  enough  back  from  a  straight 
line  between  the  two  points  to  command  them 
both. 

"I  never  see  such  a  built  house!"  he  growled 
in  the  anger  of  his  great  disappointment.  In 
this  mood  his  mind  was  rich  soil  for  the  seeds 
of  suspicion,  and,  from  the  certainty  that  he 
could  in  no  way  explain  the  robbery,  he  passed 
at  one  bound  to  the  doubt  that  any  robbery 
had  been  committed.  It  was  a  foolish  thing, 
come  to  think  of  it,  to  say  that  a  monkey 
snatched  that  diamond  and  swallowed  it  I 
Who  ever  heard  of  such  an  absurdity?  It 
was  a  lie  on  the  face  of  it.  And  even  granting 
that  absurd  lie,  it  was  a  bigger  absurdity  still 
to  suppose  it  possible  that  a  crazy  woman 
from  outside,  or  any  kind  of  a  woman,  could 
be  there  at  just  the  opportune  moment — that 
all  these  various  queer  things  could  happen 
at  the  same  time.  In  short,  Emmons  had  that 
princely  stone  himself,  and  for  some  reason 
wished  it  believed  that  it  had  been  stolen. 
The  great  mystery  was  that  a  man  of  his  known 
shrewdness  should  have  invented  such  a  clumsy 
story  to  explain  its  disappearance. 


as6    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

Having  reached  this  conclusion,  the  lieu- 
tenant assumed  a  magisterial  expression  of 
countenance  and  asked  to  see  Mrs.  Emmons. 
The  lady  received  him  with  an  eager  smile 
on  her  keen  old  face,  in  the  expression  of  which 
the  officer  saw  at  once  a  close  resemblance  to 
that  of  her  husband,  and  invited  him  to  be 
seated. 

"Oh,  dear!"  she  exclaimed,  "I  do  so  hope 
you  will  find  out  about  all  this!  It  is  so  trying 
— and  such  a  queer  thing!  I  never  heard  of 
anything  like  it  in  my  life." 

He  would  not  sit,  but  stood  before  her, 
asking  every  question  touching  the  case  that 
he  could  conjure  up.  All  in  vain!  Emmons 
had  told  him  her  story  already,  and  the  most 
searching  cross-questioning  failed  to  elicit  any- 
thing new,  or  alter  the  facts  as  already  given. 
She  was  much  more  prolix  than  her  husband 
had  been,  going  into  every  detail  with  volubility 
and  minuteness.  But  the  sum  of  her  testimony 
was  that  the  strange  woman  had  pounced 
upon  her,  snatched  the  monkey,  and  disap- 
peared apparently  into  nothingness. 

The  two  visiting  jewelers  during  all  this 
time  had  remained,  after  their  first  hurry  into 
Mrs.  Emmons'  room  when  they  heard  her 
scream,  where  they  were  sitting  at  the  moment 
the  monkey  seized  the  diamond,  locked  in. 
This  was  by  their  own  request,  Mr.  Emmons 
said,  for  in  the  circumstances  they  felt  that 
to  leave  would  invite  suspicion  of  collusion  on 
their  part  with  the  thief,  and  that  they  would 
better   remain    until    the    diamond    should    be 


THE  KLEPTOMANIAC  as7 

found,  or  some  definite  course  decided  on. 
These  men  the  officer  now  questioned  as 
closely  as  he  had  Mrs.  Emmons,  but  with  no 
better  result.  They  had  seen  a  black  thing 
shoot  in  the  door,  snatch  the  stone,  swallow 
it,  and  scamper  out,  and  almost  immediately, 
hearing  a  scream,  and  seeing  Mr.  Emmons 
running  across  the  hall  from  the  telephone, 
they  had  jumped  up  and  hastened  with  him 
to  his  wife's  door,  where  they  heard  her  story 
of  the  thief.  They  acknowledged  that  the 
whole  matter  had  a  queer  look,  and  they 
wished  they  were  well  out  of  it.  But  they 
could  not  give  any  information.  It  certainly 
would  be  impossible  for  anybody  to  pass 
along  the  hall  toward  the  front  of  the  house 
without  their  seeing  him,  and  they  had  seen 
nobody.  The  thief  must  have  gone  to  the 
rear,  and  if  she  were  not  one  of  the  servants 
disguised,  and  in  conspiracy  with  all  the  rest 
of  them,  they  could  not  imagine  how  she 
was  able  to  escape  that  way.  There  was,  in 
iact,  no  possible  chance  for  a  person  to  do 
what,  it  seemed,  had  been  done.  The  problem 
was  too  big  for  them. 

The  suggestion  of  a  disguised  servant  infused 
a  little  hope  into  the  officer's  mind.  He  had 
now  become  convinced  that  it  was  as  absurd 
to  suspect  Mr.  Emmons  as  he  had  formerly 
thought  it  was  to  suppose  that  the  beast  should 
swallow  the  stone.  These  men  vowed  they 
had  seen  the  swallowing,  and  honesty  and 
distress  were  too  evident  in  their  words  and 
manner  to  be  disputed.     Besides,  even  if  this 


258    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

very  rich  man  were  not  above  secreting  the 
diamond  his  intellect  was  above  concocting 
such  a  paltry  scheme  for  doing  it.  On  the 
notion  of  a  servant  in  disguise  he  based  his 
last  hope,  and  asked  to  have  them  every  one, 
men  and  women,  summoned  before  him. 

But  at  the  very  first  view  of  them  this  last 
hope  vanished.  The  thief  was  short  and 
stout,  and  by  the  same  accursed  spite  of  fate 
which  seemed  to  have  met  the  lieutenant  at 
each  turn  and  crossing  of  this  case  every  man 
and  woman  among  these  servants  was  thin 
and  tall!  The  butler,  it  seemed,  who  hired  all 
the  help,  was  a  lath  in  shape  himself,  and, 
maintaining  that  short,  stout  people  were  usually 
drinkers  and  always  slow,  if  not  downright 
lazy,  he  would  have  none  of  them.  The  ofiicer 
in  disgust  motioned  them  away.  A  short  per- 
son may  by  the  exercise  of  skill  and  taste  be 
made  up  to  resemble  a  taller  one,  but  the 
reverse  metamorphosis  is  out  of  the  question. 
Monsieur  Lecocq  himself  never  could  have 
turned  a  tall  spindle  shanks  into  a  chunky 
sawed-oflF. 

With  this  wise  reflection  the  officer  made 
a  few  not^s,  ostensibly  of  great  importance, 
but  really  only  for  appearance  sake,  and  promis- 
ing Mr.  Emmons  that  every  effort  should  be 
made  for  the  apprehension  of  the  thief  was 
about  to  take  his  departure  with  his  assistant, 
when  he  thought  of  the  servant  who  claimed 
to  have  seen  the  dark  shape  gliding  down  the 
basement  stairs.  So  he  had  her  brought  back 
to  him,  and  put  her  through  such  a  rigorous 


THE  KLEPTOMANIAC  ,  059 

examination  that  she  suddenly  burst  out  cry- 
ing, supposing  that  he  was  charging  her  with 
the  theft.  It  was  plain  that  she  was  a  woman 
who  could  see  shadows  anywhere.  He  gave 
her  up  for  a  fool,  and  then  it  occurred  to  him 
to  explore  the  back  way  and  see  things  down 
there  for  himself.  He  did  so,  but  learned 
nothing  except  that  it  would  be  absolutely 
impossible  for  anybody  to  come  in  that  way 
unseen  by  the  servants.  Finally  he  searched 
Mrs.  Emmons'  room,  she  giving  him  full 
liberty  to  do  so,  pulling  out  drawers  for  him 
herself  and  moving  tables  and  sofas  aroimd, 
till  not  a  square  inch  in  the  apartment  remained 
unseen  by  him.  Then  he  went  away.  Though 
he  left  encouraging  words  behind  him  for  the 
benefit  of  the  husband  and  wife  he  felt  that  as 
far  as  he  was  concerned  the  case  was  closed. 

4:      9ie      *       * 

"Docther  Fur-rnivall,  sor-r,"  said  Sergeant 
Nulty,  with  red  face  and  bulging  eyes,  "c'n 
a  monkey  swally  a  rooty  bagy  tur-rnip?" 

"What's  that?"  said  Dr.  Furnivall,  wheel- 
ing around  in  his  chair.  Seeing  Sergeant 
Nulty 's  head,  helmetless,  sticking  around  the 
edge  of  the  door,  he  smiled  a  welcome.  "Come 
in,  sergeant,"  he  invited.     "What's  up  now?" 

"Well,  noo,  'tis  wan  shtrange  thing,"  an- 
swered the  sergeant,  stepping  carefully  over 
the  polished  floor  to  the  chair  the  doctor  in- 
dicated. "Here's  wan  mon  cooms  rhunnin* 
t'  th'  shtation  wid  blood  in  his  eye,  an'  he 
says,  says  he,  'B'yes,'  he  says,  'here's  a  tousan' 
dollars,'  he  says,  *fer  a  woman  an'  a  monkey^ 


36o    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

an*  she  swalleyed  it,'  he  says,  *b't  'twas  a  dimont,* 
he  says,  'an'  th'  woman  swiped  it  off  me,'  he 
says,  'an'  'twas  not  me  own,  b't  me  woife's,' 
he  says,  'an','  he  says,  'Oi'll  give,*  he  says, 
*a  tousan'  dollars  fer  her,  an'  she's  th*  soize  of 
of  a  rooty  bagy  tur-rnip,  or  mabbe  a  car-rt- 
wheel,*  he  says." 

"That  is  rather  strange,"  said  the  doctor 
dryly.     "Aren't  you  somewhat  excited,  Nulty?" 

"Well,  mebbe!"  The  sergeant,  with  a  deep 
breath  relaxed  himself,  and  proceeded  more 
calmly:  "Has  a  monkey  a  t'roat  on  him  like 
a  whale,  an*  c*n  he  swally  a  dimont,  jist,  as  big 
as  himsel',  an'  walk  off  wid  it  unbeknownst, 
an'  thin  swally  himsel'  forby  an'  dhrop  out  of 
th'  wor-rld  at  wanct,  loike  thim  moving  pic- 
thures  off  th'  shtage  ?  Becos,  af  he  c'n  do  that 
same,  he's  a  wondher,  an'  af  he  cannot,  the's 
a  t'ousan'  dollars  in  ut,  an'  ayther  way  aboot 
he's  afther  bein'  a  val'able  craythur,  whativer, 
an'  wort*  th*  throuble,  jist,  or  Oi  miss  me 
guess  intirely." 

It  required  some  minutes  of  hard  work  on 
the  doctor's  part  to  arrive  at  the  excited  ser- 
geant's meaning,  but  finally  he  succeeded,  and 
was  in  possession  of  the  strange  tale  of  Mr. 
Emmons'  loss.  The  sergeant  had  a  theory,  and 
wished  Dr.  Fumivall's  aid  in  working  it  out. 
He  believed  that  Emmons  had  the  diamond, 
that  the  whole  thing  was  a  conspiracy  between 
Emmons,  his  wife,  and  the  two  jewelers,  and 
that  Dr.  Furnivall,  with  his  hypnotism,  could 
get  at  the  truth  of  the  matter  in  two  minutes 
by  interviewing  Emmons.     He  based  his  con- 


THE  KLEPTOMANIAC  a6i 

elusions  on  two  facts — the  impossibility  of  a 
monkey's  swallowing  such  an  enormous  stone, 
to  say  nothing  of  the  beast's  miraculous  dis- 
appearance, and  the  self-evident  truth  that  no 
thief  could  have  escaped  in  the  circumstances 
as  this  alleged  one  had  done.  As  for  the  first, 
Dr.  Furnivall  asked  him: 

"Did  Emmons  say  how  big  the  diamond 
was?" 

"He  did,  begob — 'twas  wort'  t'ousans  of 
dollars!" 

"Oh,  I  see!  Because  it  was  worth  thou- 
sands it  must  be  as  big  as  a  cartwheel?" 

"Sure!  Phy,  me  woife  has  wan  wid  twinty- 
siven  pearls  set  roond  ut  that  cost  $4,  th'  soize 
a  pratie  ball,  an'  phwat  wud  a  fifty  t'ousaner 
beloike?" 

He  was  deeply  chagrined  to  learn  his  mis- 
take— that  the  value  of  precious  stones  depends 
on  quality  as  well  as  size;  that  the  capacities 
of  different  monkeys'  throats  vary  as  widely 
as  those  of  the  human  family,  some  members 
of  which  cannot  take  a  pill,  while  others  can 
swallow  a  handful  of  swords;  and  that  therefore 
it  was  quite  within  the  bounds  of  belief  that 
this  animal  had  done  as  represented,  or  could 
do  so.  The  second  point  of  the  sergeant's 
theory  Dr.  Furnivall  admitted.  But,  then, 
what  of  it? 

"Why  should  I  mix  up  in  this  affair?"  the 
doctor  said.  "Nothing  is  at  stake,  no  inno- 
cent person  is  accused;  it  is  a  trivial  affair,  of 
no  interest  whatever  to  me.  What  is  the 
philosophic  or  scientific  value  of  the  fact  that 


262    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

a  rich  jeweler  has  lost  a  diamond,  or  has  stolen 
one?" 

The  sergeant  looked  disappointed.  He 
moved  uneasily  in  his  chair,  and  rufifled  his 
mustache  with  a  quick  rub  of  his  hand.  Then 
a  shrewd  beam  flicked  into  his  blue  eye. 

"Shure,  docther,"  he  said,  deprecatingly, 
"yez  wud  not  lave  thim  say  yez  is  bate,  an' 
th'  job  is  wan  too  much  for  yez!" 

Dr.  Fumivall  regarded  him  tolerantly 
through  his  colored  spectacles. 

"Nulty,"  he  returned,  with  just  a  hint  of 
sharpness  in  his  voice,  "no  doubt  you  have 
set  many  persons  by  the  ears  in  your  time  by 
that  sort  of  an  argument!  A  'stump  yer'  or 
a  'dare'  may  work  with  children  and  imbeciles, 
but  I  didn't  suppose  you  were  ass  enough  to 
think  it  would  have  any  effect  on  me." 

"B't  docther!  Jist  luk  at  it,  now!  How 
th*  quare  woman  wint  oop  in  air — an'  th' 
monkey,  jist — phwere  wes  th'  chanct  fer  him 


"Nulty,  out  with  it  now,  and  no  more  eva- 
sions! What  is  the  real  reason  why  you  wish 
me  to  take  up  this  matter?" 

The  sergeant's  face  grew  violently  red,  and 
he  looked  sheepishly  at  the  floor. 

"Well,  thin,  docther  dear,"  he  said  slowly, 
"Oi  knows  Oi  c'n  kape  nothing  at  all  fr'm 
yez — b't — 'bt  t'  tell  th'  trut',  me  woife  is  ailin' 
an'  nades  th'  counthry  air,  an'  shure  Oi'm 
near  broke,  phwat  wid  wan  thing  an'  anither, 
an'  this  an'  that,  an'  I  tort  th'  reward,  or  me 
own  share  of  ut " 


THE  KLEPTOMANIAC  963 

"You  should  have  said  so  at  once.  That 
adds  just  the  touch  of  human  interest  to  the 
case  which  alone  makes  anything  worth  while 


"Will  yer  take  it,  docther?"  cried  Nulty, 
jumping  up  with  glistening  eyes.  "Faith, 
I'll  rhun  out  t'  th'  tilephone  an'  tell  Maggie 
t'  pack  oop  fer  free  mont's  in  th'  counthry 
tomorry  momin'  on  th'  tin-twinty  that  laves 
at  noon " 

"Don't  get  rattled  again,  Nulty.  I  thought 
something  was  wrong  with  you  when  you 
came  in,  and  I  am  sorry  to  learn  that  it  is 
your  wife's  sickness  that  troubles  you.  But 
say  nothing  until  you  get  your  money.  We 
havent  found  the  diamond  yet " 

Nulty  curled  his  lip  in  disdain. 

"As  good  as — as  good  as!"  he  said.  "An', 
begob,  Oi  hov  th'  reward  all  spint!  'Tis 
something  fine,  Oi  tell  yez,  docther,  t'  spind 
ut  wanst  before  yez  git  ut  an'  wanst  afther, 
an'  thin,  av  yez  do  not  git  ut  at  all,  phy,  thin 
yez  hov  lost  nothing,  an'  av  yez  do  git  ut  yez 
c'n  put  in  th'  bank." 

Dr.  Furnivall,  during  this  lucid  formulation 
of  a  philosophy  as  old  as  the  beginnings  of 
poverty,  was  selecting  an  instrument  or  two 
from  his  surgical  case  and  preparing  an  emetic. 
With  these  in  his  pocket  he  took  his  hat  and 
told  Nulty  to  lead  the  way  to  the  Emmons 
house. 

"I  won't  venture  any  theory  yet,  though  I 
have  the  threads  of  one  in  my  mind,"  he  said 
as    they    walked    along.     "I    know    nothing 


264    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

whatever  of  the  characters  of  these  different 
persons  who  figure  in  the  case.  I  have  never 
seen  any  of  them  even,  that  I  am  aware  of. 
The  right  beginning,  however,  is  with  Emmons, 
and  if  we  find  him  at  home " 

"Shure  we  will  thot!"  said  the  sergeant. 
"  *Twes  wid  an  eye  fer  his  hours,  jist,  that  Oi 
coom  fer  yez.  Oi  knows  thim  well.  He's 
wid  his  woife  this  minute." 

And  so  they  found  him.  Dr.  Furnivall 
talked  with  them  both  a  few  moments  and 
then  drew  the  husband  aside. 

"Mr.  Emmons,"  he  said,  regarding  him 
through  his  spectacles,  "have  you  no  theory 
of  this  matter?" 

The  little  man  stooped  forward,  his  beady 
black  eyes  growing  even  smaller  and  more 
brilliantly  black,  and  crossed  his  wrists  over 
his  waistband. 

"I  had  none — but  on  thinking  it  all  over 
I — believe  I  have,"  he  answered,  incisively. 

"I  understand  that  there  is  a  reward,  offered 
by  you,  of  $i,ooo  for  the  recovery  of  the  dia- 
mond." 

"This  is  correct,"  he  returned,  in  the  same 
tone. 

"No  matter  who  is  hit  by  the  detection  of 
the  guilty  person?" 

"None  whatever.  If  you  are  the  great  Dr. 
Furnivall,  the  hypnotist,  who  can  read  men's 
souls  like  an  open  book,  you  should  have  no 
need  to  ask  that  question." 

"I  can  read  no  man's  soul.  Neither  would 
I  care  to  do  so  if  I  could.     But  I  can  read 


THE  KLEPTOMANIAC  365 

some  things,  and  one  of  them  is  that  you  would 
sooner  see  this  person  of  whom  we  both  speak 
humiliated  than  any  one  else.  In  fact,  you 
know  well  who  has  the  stone,  and  you  are 
irritated  almost  to  insanity  because  you  can't 
force  the  possessor  to  give  it  up." 

Mr.  Emmons  bowed  coldly. 

"I  honor  your  perspicacity,"  he  said,  iron- 
ically. "Perhaps  if  you  had  my  reasons  you 
would  feel  as  I  do." 

"I  have  no  doubt  of  it.  Still,  you  are 
wrong.  The  whole  difficulty  is  as  much  your 
fault  as  hers.  Kleptomania  is  a  disease,  and 
should  be  treated  as  such.  It  sticks  out  all 
over  her." 

"All  I  want  is  the  diamond,"  he  said,  add- 
ing quickly,  "and  to  know  how  she  managed 
the  business." 

"We   will   arrange   that   on   one   condition 


"The  $1,000?"  he  interrupted,  with  irony. 

Dr.  Furnivall  went  on: 

"It  is  that  when  you  have  received  this 
information  and  recovered  the  stone  you  will 
call  in  the  physician  for  your  wife  that  I  shall 
name  to  you." 

The  ugly  little  man  hesitated.  A  bright 
color  flowed  into  his  cheeks,  as  of  burning 
anger,  but  he  still  held  to  his  coldness  of  manner 

"Very  well;  I  agree — on  condition  that  you 
fulfill  your  promise,"  he  finally  said.  It  was 
plain  that  he  was  doubtful  of  this  alleged 
hypnotic  power;  and,  indeed,  he  added,  as  Dr. 
Furnivall  removed  his  spectacles  and  started 


a66   EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

towaxd  Mrs.   Emmons:     "I  think  you'll  j&nd 
your  match  there." 

She  would  not  have  been  a  promising  spectacle 
to  one  who  fondly  looks  upon  softness  and  lova- 
bility  as  the  distinguishing  characteristics  of  the 
sex.  Small,  wrinkled,  pettish,  with  nerves  of 
fire,  and  a  will  that  lay  cold  in  her  glittering 
little  beads  of  eyes,  unbreakable,  not  to  be 
bent,  and  merciless  as  fate,  she  resembled  her 
husband  so  strongly  that  one  would  say  they 
were  brother  and  sister,  rather  than  husband 
and  wife.  But  Dr.  Furnivall  was  interested 
only  in  her  disease,  the  indications  of  which 
he  saw  in  her  eyes  and  around  the  homely, 
quivering  mouth  and  pointed  chin,  as  well  as 
in  the  shape  of  her  head.  The  strength  of  her 
will  would  be  a  help  to  him  in  his  hypnotism, 
rather  than  an  obstacle;  and  with  Sergeant 
Nulty  standing  a  little  behind  her  on  one  side 
of  her  chair,  scarcely  able  to  refram  from 
dancing  in  jubilation  over  the  coming  fruition 
of  his  hopes;  and  Mr.  Emmons  on  the  other 
side,  darkly  attentive,  the  doctor  looked  her  in 
the  eye  and  talked  with  her  easily  a  moment 
or  two  about  the  strange  robbery.  And  when 
he  saw  the  various  inevitable  changes  pass 
over  her  keen,  hard,  nervous  face,  surprise  at 
first,  then  excitement,  running  swiftly  into 
earnestness  and  ending  in  fixed  introspection, 
he  asked: 

"Mrs.   Emmons,   where   is  the  diamond?" 
"In   Bruno's   stomach!"    she   answered,    at 
once,  in  a  voice  like  that  of  a  deaf  person 
who  cannot  hear  himself  speak. 


THE  KLEPTOMANIAC  «% 

."And  where  is  Bruno?" 

"In  the  closet." 

"What  closet?" 

Mr.  Emmons  darted  up  to  her  upon  this, 
and  probably  for  the  first  time  in  many  years, 
if  not  the  first  in  his  adult  life,  a  look  of  wonder 
crept  into  his  usually  steady  eyes.  "Closet!" 
he  repeated  as  one  stupefied,  "Closet!" 

She  gave  him  no  attention,  did  not  even  see 
him.  Her  eyes  were  on  Dr.  Furnivall's,  and 
she  answered: 

"The  closet  where  I  keep  my  things — the 
things  I  take." 

"Where  is  it?" 

"In  vhe  corner  of  this  room,  down  low,  in 
the  wainscot,  by  the  large  table." 

Emmons  and  the  sergeant  stared  in  amaze. 
The  corner  was  as  bare  as  a  wall  could  be. 
There  was  not  the  slightest  indication  of  any 
closet  there.  But  Emmons,  after  a  moment's 
thought,  seemed  satisfied  and  bestowed  his 
attention  again  on  the  examination. 

"It  is  plain  now,"  said  Dr.  Fumivall  to 
him,  still  holding  Mrs.  Emmons'  eyes  with 
his  own,  "how  the  monkey  was  made  to  dis- 
appear so  suddenly,  and  unless  you  wish  to 
hear  more  we  will  find  the  closet  at  once " 

"Let  her  tell  the  whole  story,"  he  inter- 
rupted grimly. 

Dr.  Fumivall  therefore  went  on: 

"Mrs.  Emmons,  how  did  it  happen  that 
the  monkey  should  seize  the  diamond?" 

"Why,  you  see,  I  suppose  it  was  this  way: 
There  is  a  kind  of  bon-bon  that  he  is  very 


268    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

fond  of,  and  I  always  hold  it  up  for  him  to 
leap  for.  It  is  astonishing  how  far  he  can 
jump  and  how  swiftly,  when  he  sees  one  of 
them  in  my  fingers,  or  indeed  anywhere.  They 
are  round,  and  sparkling  like  rock  candy, 
and  I  suppose  he  thought  the  diamond  was 
one  of  them.  So  he  snatched  it  and  swallowed 
it.    But  it  hurt  him  and'he  has  been  sick  over  it." 

"You  had  no  idea  of  his  doing  such  a 
thing  until  your  husband  told  you  it  was  done  ?" 

"No,  indeed,  of  course  not!" 

Emmons'  face  softened  the  merest  shade 
at  this.  He  had  evidently  believed  that  in 
some   way   the   theft   had   been   premeditated. 

"And  when  you  found  that  he  had  swal- 
lowed the  diamond  you  resolved  to  hide  him?" 

"Yes,  I  did  not  propose  to  have  my  pet 
cut  open,  or  even  given  an  emetic." 

"Was  that  the  only  reason?" 

"No,  I  wanted  the  diamond.  Diamonds 
are  so  pretty!  I  always  take  them  wherever 
I  see  them,  if  I  can  do  so  unobserved.  I  have 
a  lot  of  them  in  the  closet." 

"And  you  made  up  the  story  of  the  strange 
woman  in  order  to  send  suspicion  astray?" 

"Yes!" 

"I  think,"  said  Dr.  Fumivall  to  Mr.  Em- 
mons, that  that  is  all  we  want  to  know,  isn't 
it?  It  was  the  description  of  the  alleged 
thief's  appearance  that  put  me  immediately 
on  the  track.  Such  a  descriptior*  could  ema- 
nate only  from  a  mind  disordered  in  some 
way,  and,  considering  all  the  circumstances, 
I  at  once  suspected  kleptomania." 


THE  KLEPTOMANIAC  S69 

But  Mr.  Emmons  was  already  pounding 
the  wainscot  in  search  of  the  closet.  When 
finally  it  was  laid  open  it  was  found  to  be 
a  small  cavity  behind  the  sheathing  used  to 
round  the  corners  of  the  circular  room,  the 
door  of  which  was  perfectly  hidden,  and  fitted 
in  tightly  without  lock  or  spring.  The  floor 
was  littered  with  many  valuables,  stolen  by 
the  kleptomaniac,  among  them  a  good  hand- 
ful of  diamonds  of  various  shapes  and  degrees 
of  beauty. 

Stretched  in  the  midst  of  the  glittering 
array  the  poor  monkey  lay  dead,  suffocated. 

The  diamond  was  recovered,  and  Ser- 
geant Nulty  received  the  reward  from  Dr. 
Fumivall,  to  whom  alone  Emmons  would  pay 
it. 


The  Lodging  House 
Mystery 


THE  KLEPTOMANIAC  as; 

found,  or  some  definite  course  decided  on. 
These  men  the  officer  now  questioned  as 
closely  as  he  had  Mrs.  Emmons,  but  with  no 
better  result.  They  had  seen  a  black  thing 
shoot  in  the  door,  snatch  the  stone,  swallow 
it,  and  scamper  out,  and  almost  immediately, 
hearing  a  scream,  and  seeing  Mr.  Emmons 
running  across  the  hall  from  the  telephone, 
they  had  jumped  up  and  hastened  with  him 
to  his  wife's  door,  where  they  heard  her  story 
of  the  thief.  They  acknowledged  that  the 
whole  matter  had  a  queer  look,  and  they 
Mdshed  they  were  well  out  of  it.  But  they 
could  not  give  any  information.  It  certainly 
would  be  impossible  for  anybody  to  pass 
along  the  hall  toward  the  front  of  the  house 
without  their  seeing  him,  and  they  had  seen 
nobody.  The  thief  must  have  gone  to  the 
rear,  and  if  she  were  not  one  of  the  servants 
disguised,  and  in  conspiracy  with  all  the  rest 
of  them,  they  could  not  imagine  how  she 
was  able  to  escape  that  way.  There  was,  in 
fact,  no  possible  chance  for  a  person  to  do 
what,  it  seemed,  had  been  done.  The  problem 
was  too  big  for  them. 

The  suggestion  of  a  disguised  servant  infused 
a  little  hope  into  the  officer's  mind.  He  had 
now  become  convinced  that  it  was  as  absurd 
to  suspect  Mr.  Emmons  as  he  had  formerly 
thought  it  was  to  suppose  that  the  beast  should 
swallow  the  stone.  These  men  vowed  they 
had  seen  the  swallowing,  and  honesty  and 
distress  were  too  evident  in  their  words  and 
manner  to  be  disputed.     Besides,  even  if  this 


2S8    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

very  rich  man  were  not  above  secreting  the 
diamond  his  intellect  was  above  concocting 
such  a  paltry  scheme  for  doing  it.  On  the 
notion  of  a  servant  in  disguise  he  based  his 
last  hope,  and  asked  to  have  them  every  one, 
men  and  women,  summoned  before  him. 

But  at  the  very  first  view  of  them  this  last 
hope  vanished.  The  thief  was  short  and 
stout,  and  by  the  same  accursed  spite  of  fate 
which  seemed  to  have  met  the  lieutenant  at 
each  turn  and  crossing  of  this  case  every  man 
and  woman  among  these  servants  was  thin 
and  tall!  The  butler,  it  seemed,  who  hired  all 
the  help,  was  a  lath  in  shape  himself,  and, 
maintaining  that  short,  stout  people  were  usually 
drinkers  and  always  slow,  if  not  downright 
lazy,  he  would  have  none  of  them.  The  officer 
in  disgust  motioned  them  away.  A  short  per- 
son may  by  the  exercise  of  skill  and  taste  be 
made  up  to  resemble  a  taller  one,  but  the 
reverse  metamorphosis  is  out  of  the  question. 
Monsieur  Lecocq  himself  never  could  have 
turned  a  tall  spindle  shanks  into  a  chunky 
sawed-off. 

With  this  wise  reflection  the  officer  made 
a  few  notes,  ostensibly  of  great  importance, 
but  really  only  for  appearance  sake,  and  promis- 
ing Mr.  Emmons  that  every  effort  should  be 
made  for  the  apprehension  of  the  thief  was 
about  to  take  his  departure  with  his  assistant, 
when  he  thought  of  the  servant  who  claimed 
to  have  seen  the  dark  shape  gliding  down  the 
basement  stairs.  So  he  had  her  brought  back 
to  him,  and  put  her  through  such  a  rigorous 


THE  KLEPTOMANIAC  959 

examination  that  she  suddenly  burst  out  cry- 
ing, supposing  that  he  was  charging  her  with 
the  theft.  It  was  plain  that  she  was  a  woman 
who  could  see  shadows  anywhere.  He  gave 
her  up  for  a  fool,  and  then  it  occurred  to  him 
to  explore  the  back  way  and  see  things  down 
there  for  himself.  He  did  so,  but  learned 
nothing  except  that  it  would  be  absolutely 
impossible  for  anybody  to  come  in  that  way 
unseen  by  the  servants.  Finally  he  searched 
Mrs.  Emmons'  room,  she  giving  him  full 
liberty  to  do  so,  pulling  out  drawers  for  him 
herself  and  moving  tables  and  sofas  around, 
till  not  a  square  inch  in  the  apartment  remained 
unseen  by  him.  Then  he  went  away.  Though 
he  left  encouraging  words  behind  him  for  the 
benefit  of  the  husband  and  wife  he  felt  that  as 

far  as  he  was  concerned  the  case  was  closed. 
*    *    *     * 

"Docther  Fur-rnivall,  sor-r,"  said  Sergeant 
Nulty,  with  red  face  and  bulging  eyes,  "c'n 
a  monkey  swally  a  rooty  bagy  tur-rnip?" 

"What's  that?"  said  Dr.  Furnivall,  wheel- 
ing around  in  his  chair.  Seeing  Sergeant 
Nulty's  head,  helmetless,  sticking  around  the 
edge  of  the  door,  he  smiled  a  welcome.  "Come 
in,  sergeant,"  he  invited.     "What's  up  now?" 

"Well,  noo,  'tis  wan  shtrange  thing,"  an- 
swered the  sergeant,  stepping  carefully  over 
the  polished  floor  to  the  chair  the  doctor  in- 
dicated. "Here's  wan  mon  cooms  rhunnin* 
t'  th*  shtation  wid  blood  in  his  eye,  an'  he 
says,  says  he,  'B'yes,'  he  says,  'here's  a  tousan' 
dollars,'  he  says,  'fer  a  woman  an'  a  monkey,. 


a6o    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

an'  she  swalleyed  it/  he  says,  *b't  'twas  a  dimont/ 
he  says,  'an'  th'  woman  swiped  it  off  me,'  he 
says,  'an'  'twas  not  me  own,  b't  me  woife's,' 
he  says,  'an',*  he  says,  'Oi'U  give,'  he  says, 
*a  tousan'  dollars  fer  her,  an'  she's  th'  soize  of 
of  a  rooty  bagy  tur-rnip,  or  mabbe  a  car-rt- 
wheel,'  he  says." 

"That  is  rather  strange,"  said  the  doctor 
dryly.     "Aren't  you  somewhat  excited,  Nulty?" 

"Well,  mebbe!"  The  sergeant,  with  a  deep 
breath  relaxed  himself,  and  proceeded  more 
calmly:  "Has  a  monkey  a  t'roat  on  him  like 
a  whale,  an'  c'n  he  swally  a  dimont,  jist,  as  big 
as  himsel',  an'  walk  off  wid  it  unbeknownst, 
an'  thin  swally  himsel'  forby  an'  dhrop  out  of 
th'  wor-rld  at  wanct,  loike  thim  moving  pic- 
thures  off  th'  shtage  ?  Becos,  af  he  c'n  do  that 
same,  he's  a  wondher,  an'  af  he  cannot,  the's 
a  t'ousan'  dollars  in  ut,  an'  ayther  way  aboot 
he's  afther  bein'  a  val'able  craythur,  whativer, 
an'  wort'  th'  throuble,  jist,  or  Oi  miss  me 
guess  intirely." 

It  required  some  minutes  of  hard  work  on 
the  doctor's  part  to  arrive  at  the  excited  ser- 
geant's meaning,  but  finally  he  succeeded,  and 
was  in  possession  of  the  strange  tale  of  Mr. 
Emmons'  loss.  The  sergeant  had  a  theory,  and 
wished  Dr.  Furnivall's  aid  in  working  it  out. 
He  believed  that  Emmons  had  the  diamond, 
that  the  whole  thing  was  a  conspiracy  between 
Emmons,  his  wife,  and  the  two  jewelers,  and 
that  Dr.  Furnivall,  with  his  hypnotism,  could 
get  at  the  truth  of  the  matter  in  two  minutes 
by  interviewing  Emmons.     He  based  his  con- 


THE  KLEPTOMANIAC  a6t 

dusions  on  two  facts — the  impossibility  of  a 
monkey's  swallowing  such  an  enormous  stone, 
to  say  nothing  of  the  beast's  miraculous  dis- 
appearance, and  the  self-evident  truth  that  no 
thief  could  have  escaped  in  the  circumstances 
as  this  alleged  one  had  done.  As  for  the  first, 
Dr.  Furnivall  asked  him: 

"Did  Emmons  say  how  big  the  diamond 
was  ?" 

"He  did,  begob — 'twas  wort'  t'ousans  of 
dollars!" 

"Oh,  I  see!  Because  it  was  worth  thou- 
sands it  must  be  as  big  as  a  cartwheel?" 

"Sure!  Phy,  me  woife  has  wan  wid  twinty- 
siven  pearls  set  roond  ut  that  cost  $4,  th'  soize 
a  pratie  ball,  an'  phwat  wud  a  fifty  t*ousaner 
be  loike?" 

He  was  deeply  chagrined  to  learn  his  mis- 
take— that  the  value  of  precious  stones  depends 
on  quality  as  well  as  size;  that  the  capacities 
of  different  monkeys'  throats  vary  as  widely 
as  those  of  the  human  family,  some  members 
of  which  cannot  take  a  pill,  while  others  can 
swallow  a  handful  of  swords;  and  that  therefore 
it  was  quite  within  the  bounds  of  belief  that 
this  animal  had  done  as  represented,  or  could 
do  so.  The  second  point  of  the  sergeant's 
theory  Dr.  Furnivall  admitted.  But,  then, 
what  of  it? 

"Why  should  I  mix  up  in  this  affair?"  the 
doctor  said.  "Nothing  is  at  stake,  no  inno- 
cent person  is  accused;  it  is  a  trivial  affair,  of 
no  interest  whatever  to  me.  What  is  the 
philosophic  or  scientific  value  of  the  fact  that 


262    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

a  rich  jeweler  has  lost  a  diamond,  or  has  stolen 
one?" 

The  sergeant  looked  disappointed.  He 
moved  uneasily  in  his  chair,  and  ruffled  his 
mustache  with  a  quick  rub  of  liis  hand.  Then 
a  shrewd  beam  flicked  into  his  blue  eye. 

"Shure,  docther,"  he  said,  deprecatingly, 
"yez  wud  not  lave  thim  say  yez  is  bate,  an' 
th'  job  is  wan  too  much  for  yez!" 

Dr.  Fumivall  regarded  him  tolerantly 
through  his  colored  spectacles. 

"Nulty,"  he  returned,  \^^th  just  a  hint  of 
sharpness  in  his  voice,  "no  doubt  you  have 
set  many  persons  by  the  ears  in  your  time  by 
that  sort  of  an  argument!  A  'stump  yer'  or 
a  'dare*  may  work  with  children  and  imbeciles, 
but  I  didn't  suppose  you  were  ass  enough  to 
think  it  would  have  any  effect  on  me." 

"B't  docther!  Jist  luk  at  it,  now!  How 
th*  quare  woman  wint  oop  in  air — an'  th' 
monkey,  jist — phwere  wes  th'  chanct  fer  him 


"Nulty,  out  with  it  now,  and  no  more  eva- 
sions! What  is  the  real  reason  why  you  wish 
me  to  take  up  this  matter?" 

The  sergeant's  face  grew  violently  red,  and 
he  looked  sheepishly  at  the  floor. 

"Well,  thin,  docther  dear,"  he  said  slowly, 
"Oi  knows  Oi  c'n  kape  nothing  at  all  fr'm 
yez — b't — 'bt  t'  tell  th'  trut',  me  woife  is  ailin' 
an*  nades  th'  counthry  air,  an'  shure  Oi'm 
near  broke,  phwat  wid  wan  thing  an'  anither, 
an'  this  an'  that,  an'  I  tort  th'  reward,  or  me 
own  share  of  ut '* 


THE  BLLEPTOMANIAC  a^ 

"You  should  have  said  so  at  once.  That 
adds  just  the  touch  of  human  interest  to  the 
case  which  alone  makes  anything  worth  while 


"Will  yer  take  it,  docther?"  cried  Nulty, 
jumping  up  with  glistening  eyes.  "Faith, 
I'll  rhun  out  t'  th'  tilephone  an'  tell  Maggie 
t'  pack  oop  fer  t'ree  mont's  in  th'  counthry 
tomorry  momin'  on  th'  tin-twinty  that  laves 
at  noon " 

"Don't  get  rattled  again,  Nulty.  I  thought 
something  was  wrong  with  you  when  you 
came  in,  and  I  am  sorry  to  learn  that  it  is 
your  wife's  sickness  that  troubles  you.  But 
say  nothing  until  you  get  your  money.  We 
havent  found  the  diamond  yet " 

Nulty  curled  his  lip  in  disdain. 

"As  good  as — as  good  as!"  he  said.  "An*, 
begob,  Oi  hov  th'  reward  all  spint!  'Tis 
something  fine,  Oi  tell  yez,  docther,  t'  spind 
ut  wanst  before  yez  git  ut  an'  wanst  afther, 
an'  thin,  av  yez  do  not  git  ut  at  all,  phy,  thin 
yez  hov  lost  nothing,  an'  av  yez  do  git  ut  yez 
c'n  put  in  th'  bank." 

Dr.  Fumivall,  during  this  lucid  formulation 
of  a  philosophy  as  old  as  the  beginnings  of 
poverty,  was  selecting  an  instrument  or  two 
from  his  surgical  case  and  preparing  an  emetic. 
With  these  in  his  pocket  he  took  his  hat  and 
told  Nulty  to  lead  the  way  to  the  Ermnons 
house. 

"I  won't  venture  any  theory  yet,  though  I 
have  the  threads  of  one  in  my  mind,"  he  said 
as    they    walked    along.     "I    know    nothing 


264   EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

whatever  of  the  characters  of  these  different 
persons  who  figure  in  the  case.  I  have  never 
seen  any  of  them  even,  that  I  am  aware  of. 
The  right  beginning,  however,  is  with  Emmons, 
and  if  we  find  him  at  home " 

"Shure  we  will  thot!"  said  the  sergeant. 
"  'Twes  wid  an  eye  fer  his  hours,  jist,  that  Oi 
coom  fer  yez.  Oi  knows  thim  well.  He's 
wid  his  woife  this  minute." 

And  so  they  found  him.  Dr.  Furnivall 
talked  with  them  both  a  few  moments  and 
then  drew  the  husband  aside. 

"Mr.  Emmons,"  he  said,  regarding  him 
through  his  spectacles,  "have  you  no  theory 
of  this  matter?" 

The  little  man  stooped  forward,  his  beady 
black  eyes  growing  even  smaller  and  more 
brilliantly  black,  and  crossed  his  wrists  over 
his  waistband. 

"I  had  none — but  on  thinking  it  all  over 
I — believe  I  have,"  he  answered,  incisively. 

"I  understand  that  there  is  a  reward,  offered 
by  you,  of  $i,ooo  for  the  recovery  of  the  dia- 
mond." 

"This  is  correct,"  he  returned,  in  the  same 
tone. 

"No  matter  who  is  hit  by  the  detection  of 
the  guilty  person?" 

"None  whatever.  If  you  are  the  great  Dr. 
Furnivall,  the  hypnotist,  who  can  read  men's 
souls  like  an  open  book,  you  should  have  no 
need  to  ask  that  question." 

"I  can  read  no  man's  soul.  Neither  would 
I  care  to  do  so  if  I  could.     But  I  can  read 


THE  KLEPTOMANIAC  265 

some  things,  and  one  of  them  is  that  you  would 
sooner  see  this  person  of  whom  we  both  speak 
humiliated  than  any  one  else.  In  fact,  you 
know  well  who  has  the  stone,  and  you  are 
irritated  almost  to  insanity  because  you  can't 
force  the  possessor  to  give  it  up." 

Mr.  Emmons  bowed  coldly. 

"I  honor  your  perspicacity,"  he  said,  iron- 
ically. "Perhaps  if  you  had  my  reasons  you 
would  feel  as  I  do." 

"I  have  no  doubt  of  it.  Still,  you  are 
wrong.  The  whole  difficulty  is  as  much  your 
fault  as  hers.  Kleptomania  is  a  disease,  and 
should  be  treated  as  such.  It  sticks  out  all 
over  her." 

"All  I  want  is  the  diamond,"  he  said,  add- 
ing quickly,  "and  to  know  how  she  managed 
the  business." 

"We   will   arrange   that   on   one   condition 


"The  $1,000?"  he  interrupted,  with  irony. 

Dr.  Furnivall  went  on: 

"It  is  that  when  you  have  received  this 
information  and  recovered  the  stone  you  will 
call  in  the  physician  for  your  wife  that  I  shall 
name  to  you." 

The  ugly  little  man  hesitated.  A  bright 
color  flowed  into  his  cheeks,  as  of  burning 
anger,  but  he  still  held  to  his  coldness  of  manner 

"Very  well;  I  agree — on  condition  that  you 
fulfill  your  promise,"  he  finally  said.  It  was 
plain  that  he  was  doubtful  of  this  alleged 
hypnotic  power;  and,  indeed,  he  added,  as  Dr. 
Furnivall  removed  his  spectacles  and  started 


a66   EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

toward  Mrs.   Emmons:     "I  think  you'll  find 
your  match  there." 

She  would  not  have  been  a  promising  spectacle 
to  one  who  fondly  looks  upon  softness  and  lova- 
bility  as  the  distinguishing  characteristics  of  the 
sex.  Small,  wrinkled,  pettish,  with  nerves  of 
fire,  and  a  will  that  lay  cold  in  her  glittering 
little  beads  of  eyes,  unbreakable,  not  to  be 
bent,  and  merciless  as  fate,  she  resembled  her 
husband  so  strongly  that  one  would  say  they 
were  brother  and  sister,  rather  than  husband 
and  wife.  But  Dr.  Furnivall  was  interested 
only  in  her  disease,  the  indications  of  which 
he  saw  in  her  eyes  and  around  the  homely, 
quivering  mouth  and  pointed  chin,  as  well  as 
in  the  shape  of  her  head.  The  strength  of  her 
will  would  be  a  help  to -him  in  his  hypnotism, 
rather  than  an  obstacle;  and  with  Sergeant 
Nulty  standing  a  little  behind  her  on  one  side 
of  her  chair,  scarcely  able  to  refram  from 
dancing  in  jubilation  over  the  coming  fruition 
of  his  hopes;  and  Mr.  Emmons  on  the  other 
side,  darkly  attentive,  the  doctor  looked  her  in 
the  eye  and  talked  with  her  easily  a  moment 
or  two  about  the  strange  robbery.  And  when 
he  saw  the  various  inevitable  changes  pass 
over  her  keen,  hard,  nervous  face,  surprise  at 
first,  then  excitement,  running  swiftly  into 
earnestness  and  ending  in  fixed  introspection, 
he  asked: 

"Mrs.   Emmons,   where  is   the  diamond?" 
"In    Bruno's   stomach!"    she   answered,    at 
once,  in   a  voice  like   that   of  a  deaf  person 
who  cannot  hear  himself  speak. 


THE  KLEPTOMANIAC  *6f 

"And  where  is  Bruno?" 

"In  the  closet." 

"What  closet?" 

Mr.  Emmons  darted  up  to  her  upon  this, 
and  probably  for  the  first  time  in  many  years, 
if  not  the  first  in  his  adult  life,  a  look  of  wonder 
crept  into  his  usually  steady  eyes.  "Closet!" 
he  repeated  as  one  stupefied,  "Closet!" 

She  gave  him  no  attention,  did  not  even  see 
him.  Her  eyes  were  on  Dr.  Furnivall's,  and 
she  answered: 

"The  closet  where  I  keep  my  things — the 
things  I  take." 

"Where  is  it?" 

"In  ihe  corner  of  this  room,  down  low,  in 
the  wainscot,  by  the  large  table." 

Emmons  and  the  sergeant  stared  in  amaze. 
The  corner  was  as  bare  as  a  wall  could  be. 
There  was  not  the  slightest  indication  of  any 
closet  there.  But  Emmons,  after  a  moment's 
thought,  seemed  satisfied  and  bestowed  his 
attention  again  on  the  examination. 

"It  is  plain  now,"  said  Dr.  Furnivall  to 
him,  still  holding  Mrs.  Emmons'  eyes  with 
his  own,  "how  the  monkey  was  made  to  dis- 
appear so  suddenly,  and  unless  you  wish  to 
hear  more  we  will  find  the  closet  at  once " 

"Let  her  tell  the  whole  story,"  he  inter- 
rupted grimly. 

Dr.  Furnivall  therefore  went  on: 

"Mrs.  Emmons,  how  did  it  happen  that 
the  monkey  should  seize  the  diamond?" 

"Why,  you  see,  I  suppose  it  was  this  way: 
There  is  a  kind  of  bon-bon  that  he  is  very 


268    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

fond  of,  and  I  always  hold  it  up  for  him  to 
leap  for.  It  is  astonishing  how  far  he  can 
jump  and  how  swiftly,  when  he  sees  one  of 
them  in  my  fingers,  or  indeed  anywhere.  They 
are  round,  and  sparkling  like  rock  candy, 
and  I  suppose  he  thought  the  diamond  was 
one  of  them.  So  he  snatched  it  and  swallowed 
it.    But  it  hurt  him  and'he  has  been  sick  over  it." 

"You  had  no  idea  of  his  doing  such  a 
thing  until  your  husband  told  you  it  was  done  ?" 

"No,  indeed,  of  course  not!" 

Emmons*  face  softened  the  merest  shade 
at  this.  He  had  evidently  believed  that  in 
some   way   the   theft   had   been   premeditated. 

"And  when  you  found  that  he  had  swal- 
lowed the  diamond  you  resolved  to  hide  him?" 

"Yes,  I  did  not  propose  to  have  my  pet 
cut  open,  or  even  given  an  emetic." 

"Was  that  the  only  reason?" 

"No,  I  wanted  the  diamond.  Diamonds 
are  so  pretty!  I  always  take  them  wherever 
I  see  them,  if  I  can  do  so  unobserved.  I  have 
a  lot  of  them  in  the  closet." 

"And  you  made  up  the  story  of  the  strange 
woman  in  order  to  send  suspicion  astray?" 

"Yes!" 

"I  think,"  said  Dr.  Fumivall  to  Mr.  Em- 
mons, that  that  is  all  we  want  to  know,  isn't 
it?  It  was  the  description  of  the  alleged 
thief's  appearance  that  put  me  immediately 
on  the  track.  Such  a  descriptior  could  ema- 
nate only  from  a  mind  disordered  in  some 
way,  and,  considering  all  the  circumstances, 
I  at  once  suspected  kleptomania." 


THE  KLEPTOMANIAC  ^ 

But  Mr.  Emmons  was  already  pounding 
the  wainscot  in  search  of  the  closet.  When 
finally  it  was  laid  open  it  was  found  to  be 
a  small  cavity  behind  the  sheathing  used  to 
round  the  corners  of  the  circular  room,  the 
door  of  which  was  perfectly  hidden,  and  fitted 
in  tightly  without  lock  or  spring.  The  floor 
was  littered  with  many  valuables,  stolen  by 
the  kleptomaniac,  among  them  a  good  hand- 
ful of  diamonds  of  various  shapes  and  degrees 
of  beauty. 

Stretched  in  the  midst  of  the  glittering 
array  the  poor  monkey  lay  dead,  suffocated. 

The  diamond  was  recovered,  and  Ser- 
geant Nulty  received  the  reward  from  Dr. 
Furnivall,  to  whom  alone  Emmons  would  pay 
it. 


The  Lodging  House 
Mystery 


THE  LODGING  HOUSE  MYSTERY  989 

that  sajring.  So  I  came  to  ask  you,  sir,  to  make 
her  change  it  and  tell  the  truth.  Then  they 
will  let  liim  out  of  jail.  But  I  have  not  much 
money.  My  father  and  mother  laughed  when 
I  told  what  I  was  going  to  do.  'Child,'  they 
said,  *the  great  doctor  will  want  more  money 
for  doing  that  thing  than  you  will  ever  have 
in  all  your  life.'  But  I  said,  'Not  so,  because 
it  is  right  to  make  her  tell  the  truth,  and  it  is 
a  good  action.  He  will  not  charge  too  much 
for  doing  it.'  " 

She  laid  the  little  roll  of  bills  on  the  table 
and  smiled  at  him  in  perfect  confidence. 

"Is  your  friend's  name  Frank  Leavitt?" 
he  asked,  gently. 

"Oh,  yes,  doctor,"  she  cried,  eagerly.  "Do 
you  know  him?  If  you  do  you  are  sure  he 
could  not  do  such  a  thing  as  that.  He  would 
not  hurt  anybody.  Oh  no!  He  is  good  and 
kind  and  very  handsome!" 

She  uttered  the  last  adjective  as  if  it  were 
conclusive  proof  of  his  innocence. 

"I  don't  know  him,  no,"  answered  the  doctor 
gravely.  "But  I  have  read  about  the  case  in 
the  papers.  So  they  took  him  to  the  hospital 
and  she  identified  him?  Did  she  say  what 
he  did  it  for,  and  how  he  did  it?" 

"She  said  only,  'That  is  the  manl'  Not 
another  word  would  she  speak.  And  they 
took  him  back  to  the  jail,  and  he  will  have 
to  die  unless  you,  sir,  mU.  make  her  take  those 
words  back  and  say  what  is  true." 

"Have  they  found  out  who  the  woman 
is?" 


29©    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

"No,  sir.  She  will  say  nothing,  and  they 
can't  find  out.  They  do  not  know  how  she 
came  there  in  the  house.  And  Mrs.  Doane 
is  not  found — nobody  knows  where  she  is. 
It  is  very  strange.  I  do  not  understand  any 
of  it,  only  he  did  not  do  it;  it  is  foolish  to 
think  so.  How  could  he,  when  we  are  going 
to  get  married  sometime?  It  is  impossible, 
and  I  would  laugh  at  it  if  I  did  not  feel  so 
frightened  of  the  jail  where  he  is." 

The  eyes  grew  moist  again  and  resumed 
their  appeal.  The  doctor  handed  her  back 
the"  money. 

"I  don't  accept  pay  in  this  way,"  he  said. 
"But,"  he  hastened  to  add,  seeing  her  look 
of  alarm,  "I'll  call  on  the  woman,  and  if  I 
can  do  you  any  good  I  will  let  you  know  how 
to  make  it  right  with  me.  And  I'll  go  im- 
mediately.    Will  that  satisfy  you?" 

"Oh,  I  thank  you  so  much,  doctor!"  she 
cried,  flushing  with  happiness.  "Now  I  will 
go  home  and  laugh  at  my  mother  and  father, 
who  said  you  would  not  do  it.  And  how  can 
I  know  at  once  what  she  says " 

"Do  not  think  any  more  about  it  until 
mormng,"  he  advised  her.  He  knew  that  the 
matter  would  be  settled  one  way  or  the  other 
in  a  few  minutes,  providing  the  mysterious 
woman  was  awake  and  able  to  talk,  but  he  was 
far  from  sure  how  it  would  turn  out,  and  did 
not  wish  to  raise  a  hope  in  her  breast  that 
might  prove  futile. 

A  quarter  of  an  hour  later,  in  company 
with  one  of  the  hospital  doctors,  a  policeman, 


THE  LODGING  HOUSE  MYSTERY  291 

and  a  justice  of  the  peace,  he  was  standing 
at  the  bedside  of  the  victim  of  the  assault. 
Looking  at  her  at  first  through  his  spectacles, 
he  asked: 

"Madam,  will  you  tell  me  your  name?" 

She  shook  her  head  wearily. 

"I  only  wish  to  be  left  alone,"  she  answered. 

"But  other  people — they  have  rights,  haven't 
they?  When  one  is  in  trouble  wouldn't  you 
even  speak  a  word  in  order  to  relieve  him? 
Think  of  that  young  man  and  his  sweetheart! 
Do  you  still  assert  that  he  is  the  person  who 
attacked  you?" 

"Yes."  She  said  it  coldly,  and  with  a 
flash  of  her  black  eyes  despite  her  weakness. 

"I  don't  understand  why  you  were  so  tender 
of  him  when  they  told  you  he  had  been  caught, 
and  yet  now  show  so  much  animosity  towards 
him." 

She  gazed  obdurately  up  at  him  and  said 
nothing.  He  then  removed  his  spectacles  and 
looked  her  in  the  eye. 

"Tell  me  now,"  he  said,  "who  assaulted 
you?" 

Her  eyes  remained  a  moment  in  repose. 
Suddenly  they  sprang  to  life,  dilating  as  with 
surprise,  then  perplexity  shone  there  briefly, 
passing  into  earnestness  and  finally  into  con- 
centrated introspection;  and  she  answered 
in  a  wooden  voice: 

"John  Merrill!" 

"Who  is  John  Merrill?" 

"The  man  I  love!" 

"Yes,  but  what  does  he  do?" 


39a    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

"He  is  a  hypnotist." 

"Where  is  he  to  be  found?" 

"I  don't  know.  I  suppose  he  has  run 
away." 

"What  is  your  name?" 

"Ella  Frost." 

"Where  do  you  live?" 

"In  Middleton." 

"How  happened  you  o  be  at  Mrs.  Doane's ?" 

"I  came  to  tell  her  that  her  husband  had 
met  with  an  accident.  He  was  at  her  sister's 
in  Middleton  and  wanted  her  to  go  there  at 
once.  It  was  late  at  night,  just  in  time  for 
the  10:45  train,  and  she  asked  me  to  stay  in 
the  house  for  a  day  or  two  and  take  care  of 
the  rooms.  I  said  I  would,  and  she  left  me 
in  charge,  for  she  knew  me." 

"Now  tell  us  how  he  came  to  assault  you." 

"Mrs.  Doane  let  him  sleep  on  the  folding- 
bed  in  the  parlor  that  night.  Along  in  the 
forenoon  I  had  a  terrible  headache,  and  I 
went  up  to  my  room  and  lay  down  on  the  bed, 
and  John  gave  me  a  hypnotic  treatment  for 
it.  He  had  often  done  this.  It  never  did  me 
any  good,  but  it  pleased  him  to  think  he  could 
control  me  and  put  me  alseep,  so  I  always 
played  that  I  was  sleeping,  and  that  his  treat- 
ment cured  me.  But  I  never  was  affected  in 
the  least.  When  he  believed  I  was  under  • 
control  he  walked  over  to  the  bureau  and  began 
to  open  the  drawers.  I  had  taken  all  my  money, 
about  $1,200,  out  of  the  bank  in  Middleton 
to  bring  to  the  city,  and  he  knew  I  had  it.  I 
opened  my  eyes  and  watched  him.     I  knew 


THE  LODGING  HOUSE  MYSTERY  293 

he  was  searching  for  it,  still  I  couldn't  believe 
it.  Just  as  he  found  it  he  turned  and  saw 
me  looking  at  him,  and  his  face  grew  so  terrible 
that  I  was  scared  and  ran  from  the  room.  He 
chased  me,  and  when  we  got  into  the  kitchen 
he  grabbed  me,  and  pulled  me  toward  the 
table  where  the  butcher  knife  was,  and  caught 
it  up  and  tried  to  stab  me,  but  I  dodged  and 
fought,  getting  cut  all  over  my  face  and  hands. 
I  tried  to  get  out-doors,  but  he  pulled  me  back, 
and  I  ran  again  through  the  hall,  but  fell  at 
the  foot  of  the  stairs.  There  was  an  overcoat 
hanging  on  the  halltree  and  he  put  it  on,  and 
then  took  me  bodily  in  his  arms  up  to  the 
bathroom,  and  left  me  there.  I  suppose  he 
thought  he  had  finished  me,  but  I  came  to 
and  started  for  my  room.  That  is  all  about 
it.  Only,  I  don't  see  why  he  did  it.  I  would 
have  given  him  the  money  willingly  if  I  had 
known  he  wanted  it.  Now  he  has  done  such 
a  terrible  thing  I  want  to  die.  I  don't  care 
what  becomes  of  me. " 

"You  thought  to  shield  him  by  accusing 
the  other  man?" 

"Yes.  I  fainted  with  joy  when  I  found 
they  had  got  the  wrong  man." 

Dr.  FumivaU  turned  to  the  policeman. 

"Go  get  a  warrant  for  John  Merrill,  hypno- 
tist. He  will  be  exhibiting  this  evening  in 
Allie's  hall,  where  he  causes  a  woman  to  hang 
suspended  on  nothing  in  the  air.  That  is  the 
kind  he  is!" 

It  was  Frank  Leavitt  himself  who,  a  little 
later,    was    the    bearer   of    the   joyous    news 


894    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

of   his   release   and  exoneration  to  his  sweet- 
heart. 

The  hypnotist  was  arrested  that  evening, 
and  the  money  was  found  on  his  person.  He 
was  given  fifteen  years.  The  woman  recovered, 
and  to  this  day  carries  flowers  and  dainties  to 
the  man  who  tried  to  murder  her. 


The  Spirit  Club 


THE  SPIRIT  CLUB 


Through  his  colored  spectacles  Dr.  Fumivall 
regarded  the  excited  man  before  him  calmly. 

"Dr.  Gerrish  has  already  consulted  me 
about  your  wife's  remarkable  case,"  he  said, 
"so  I  know  the  salient  points  of  it.  But,  of 
course,  before  seeing  her  I  should  be  glad  to 
learn  its  history  from  you,  as  you  suggest. 
But  be  brief,  for " 

His  companion  put  up  his  hand  suddenly. 
A  series  of  screams,  laden  with  the  mortal 
terror  of  a  human  being,  burst  upon  them 
from  somewhere  above,  seeming  to  fill  to  its 
farthest  reaches  the  lofty  and  splendid  hall 
in  which  the  two  were  standing.  There  was 
but  one  light  visible  among  the  shadows,  which, 
as  it  gleamed  softly  here  and  there  on  a  marble 
statue,  scintillated  evilly  on  some  gilded  picture 
frame,  or  sullenly  burned  on  a  polished  bit  of 
ancient  armor,  served  scarcely  more  than  to 
exaggerate  the  somber  gloom  of  the  place  and 
amplify  in  the  imagination  its  already  huge 
dimensions.  In  such  vague,  mysterious  sur- 
roundings the  screams,  startling  enough  in 
themselves,  were  awesome,  and  with  a  cold 
shudder  Mr.  Harish  hastily  drew  the  doctor 
into  one  of  the  reception-rooms  and  switched 
on  the  lights. 

"She  has  been  that  way  at  intervals  for 
months,"    he    whispered    excitedly.    He    was 


298    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

a  fresh  looking  man  of  fifty,  of  light  complexion 
and  regular  features,  in  whose  face  the  domi- 
nant expressions  were  those  of  the  acumen 
and  reserved  force  which  we  associate  with 
the  highly  successful  captain  of  industry.  The 
gray  eyes  held  the  possibility  of  a  merciless 
glitter  in  their  uncompromising  depths,  the  nar- 
row brow  seemed  always  just  about  to  gather 
in  a  frown,  the  lips  beneath  the  thin,  bristly 
brown  mustache  were  firm  to  rigidity,  and  the 
chin,  square  and  solid,  was  relieved  from  an 
appearance  of  downright  brutality  only  by  a 
vertical  cleft  in  the  middle,  resembling  an  over- 
grown dimple.  Some  slight  suggestions  of 
softness  lay  in  that,  and,  of  aU  his  features,  iu 
that  alone.  But  at  this  moment  it  was  evi- 
dent, despite  his  normal  atmosphere  of  impas- 
sivity, that  he  maintained  a  fair  degree  of 
composure  only  by  great  effort  of  will,  and  as 
he  spoke  he  sank  heavily  into  a  chair  as  if 
in  urgent  need  of  its  support  for  his  trembling 
body. 

"It  won't  take  two  minutes  to  tell  you 
what  I  wish  to,"  he  continued,  in  a  low,  hur- 
ried voice,  "and  it  seems  necessary  to  your 
understanding  of  the  case.  It  is  as  a  hypnotist 
only  that  you  can  be  of  service  here.  Medicine 
we  have  tried  in  vain.  The  trouble  began  one 
night  last  summer.  She  had  been  ailing  for 
some  time,  and  we  couldn't  find  out  what  the 
matter  was,  except  that  it  was  of  a  nervous 
nature,  -when  on  this  night  she  startled  me  out 
of  a  sound  sleep  by  screaming  suddenly.  I 
thought  at  first  that  it  must  be  an  attack  of 


THE  SPIRIT  CLUB  899 

nightmare,  and  began  to  shake  her;  but  she 
shrieked  louder  than  ever.  So  I  sprang  up 
and  turned  on  the  lights.  Then  I  saw  that  she 
was  cowering  down  in  bed,  with  staring  eyes, 
screaming  as  you  have  just  heard  her  doing 
and  flinging  her  arms  about  over  her  head  as 
I  have  seen  boys  fighting  bees.  When  the  light 
flashed  up  she  threw  me  a  terrified  look  and 
dived  under  the  bedclothes,  still  fighting  and 
shrieldng.  It  was  terrible,  terrible!  To  be 
afraid  of  ME " 

"What  explanation  did  she  make — then  or 
afterward?    Any?" 

"Only  that  she  was  frightened  and  felt  a 
pain,  as  if  a  nail  had  been  driven  into  her 
brain.  When  the  doctor  came  he  pronounced 
it  a  case  of  clavus  hystericus — nothing  so  very 
serious,  he  said.  But  it  has  proved  serious 
enough.  Two  or  three  nights  out  of  every 
week  since  then  she  has  had  one  of  these  spells. 
I  have  called  in  the  most  famous  physicians. 
No  use."  He  shook  his  head  despondently. 
"Though  all  of  them  say  the  same  things  about 
the  disease  and  prescribe  much  the  same  treat- 
ment, she  doesn't  improve.  They  do  not  reach 
the  malady,  whatever  it  is.  It  was  Dr.  Gerrish 
who  told  me  of  you  and  your  hypnotic  power, 
which  he  said  was  marvelous,  and  advised  me 
to  call  you.  He  said  he  was  convinced  that  at 
bottom  the  trouble  was  mental  rather  than 
physical,  and  that  if  a  cure  were  possible  you 
were  the  man  to  work  it." 

"Does  she  talk  with  you  freely  about  her 
case?" 


300   EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

"Ah,  that  is  one  of  the  incomprehensible 
mysteries!"  he  cried,  rising  excitedly  and 
pacing  a  few  steps  rapidly  back  and  forth. 
Then  he  stopped  with  his  hand  on  the  doctor's 
shoulder.  "She  won't  talk  about  it  with 
anybody,"  he  whispered.  "She  altogether  shuns 
the  subject;  will  not  listen  to  a  word  of  it. 
It  is  the  strangest  thing  in  the  world.  The 
most  that  can  be  drawn  from  her  is  a  'no* 
or  a  *yes'  in  answer  to  some  insistent  questions 
put  by  the  doctor  who  happens  to  be  in  at- 
tendance. But  me — she  seems  afraid  of  me! 
She  shrinks  whenever  I  approach  her.  I — I 
can't  understand  it.  Why,  Dr.  Furnivall,  I 
love  her.  She  is  all  I  care  for  on  earth. 
She  has  -always  looked  to  me  for  everything. 
Our  married  life  has  been  ideal,  but  now — 
now " 

He  broke  off  suddenly.  In  order  to  hide 
an  emotion  of  which  he  was  apparently  ashamed 
he  presented  his  back  to  the  doctor,  and,  mo- 
tioning over  his  shoulder  for  him  to  follow, 
mounted  the  wide  staircase  to  the  floor  above, 
without  another  word. 

The  doctor  found  the  sickroom,  a  large  and 
magnificently  appointed  chamber,  blazing  in 
the  splendors  of  a  cluster  of  electric  lights 
which  depended  from  the  ceiling  in  the  center. 
In  answer  to  his  questioning  look  Mr.  Harish 
whispered : 

"She  insists  on  that.  The  least  sign  of 
darkness  frightens  her,  even  although  she 
tries  to  keep  her  head  under  the  bedclothes, 
as  you  see  now.     It  is  strange.     She  must  have 


THE  SPIRIT  CLUB  301 

either  full  sunshine  or  those  lights.  I  don't 
dare  to  go  in  with  you.     I'll  wait  out  here." 

A  trained  nurse  and  a  helper  were  in  the 
room,  whom  the  doctor,  after  a  few  words  with 
them,  motioned  to  leave  him  alone  with  the 
patient.  Then,  removing  his  glasses,  he  ad- 
vanced to  the  sumptuous  bed,  in  which  he  could 
see  the  outlines  of  a  human  form  beneath  the 
coverings,  which  rose  and  fell  slightly  with  the 
spasmodic  breathing  of  the  sufferer.  The 
screams  had  ceased,  and  the  only  sound  to  be 
heard  was  the  melodious  ticking  of  a  small  gold 
cased  clock  on  the  mantel. 

"Mrs.  Harish!"  he  said,  touching  the  coun- 
terpane where  it  was  drawn  smoothly  over 
the  bowed  head. 

She  sprang  up  with  a  low  cry.  He  caught 
the  gleam  of  a  white,  pretty  face,  with  lines  of 
weakness  around  the  mouth,  a  pair  of  blue  eyes, 
the  normal  expression  of  which  must  be  ex- 
treme mildness,  but  which  were  now  fixed  on 
him  in  a  glare  of  fright,  and  a  tangle  of  blond 
hair.  Then  she  turned  frantically  and  sought 
to  crawl  farther  down  into  the  bed,  but  he 
put  out  his  hand  quickly,  gently  restraining 
her. 

"They  can't  hurt  you  any  more,"  he  said. 

"Who?  What  do  you  mean?  What  do 
you  know  about  them?" 

Her  voice  was  quavering  and  high,  and, 
flashing  a  swift,  scared  look  at  him,  she  tore 
at  his  supporting  arm  with  her  hands.  "Let 
me  alone!  Oh,  let  me  alone,  or  I  shall  die  I" 
she  gasped. 


302    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

"I  know  all  about  them.  I  have  met  and 
overcome  them  more  than  once  before  this, 
and  I  can  do  as  much  for  you  now."  He  held 
her  as  gently  as  he  might,  but  firmly,  and  began 
moving  around  so  that  he  could  gaze  into  her 
eyes.  "I  am  here  to  help  you,"  he  continued, 
when  he  had  accomplished  this.  "You  are 
suffering  persecution;  a  persecution,  too,  that 
is  easily  stopped.  I  will  stop  it  for  you.  Look 
at  me,  Mrs.  Harish!     Do  you  know  me?" 

His  gaze  held  her.  The  staring  eyes  grew 
less  wild,  a  momentary  wonder  crept  into  them, 
then  their  natural  mildness  reasserted  itself, 
and  finally  this  mildness  was  replaced  by  a 
rapt  fixity  of  introspection.  With  a  sigh  of 
relief  she  put  her  hand  into  his,  saying: 

"You  are  a  physician,  I  suppose.  No,  I 
don't  know  you.  But  I  feel  better.  Thank 
you." 

He  withdrew  his  arm,  and,  still  holding  her 
eyes  steadily,  arranged  the  pillows  so  that 
she  could  recline  comfortably,  facing  him  as 
he  sat  at  the  bedside. 

"Now,  Mrs.  Harish,"  he  said,  "carry  your 
mind  back  to  the  night  on  which  you  were 
first  seized  with  these  attacks.  Why  did  you 
scream?" 

"The  room  was  full  of  spirits  who  were 
beating  me  with  clubs,"  she  answered,  without 
emotion. 

"Are  you  what  is  called  a  spiritualist?" 

"No;  but  my  husband  is,  and  he  wishes 
me  to  believe,  too;  and  these  spirits,  I  have 
always  thought,  beat  me  for  my  obstinacy." 


THE  SPIRIT  CLUB  393 

"Did  anybody  ever  tell  you  that  they  would 
do  so?" 

"No;  but  I  have  heard  of  such  things.  No- 
body knows  anything  about  their  coming  to 
me.  I  have  never  dared  tell  even  my  hus- 
band. I  had  endured  everything  since  Mr. 
Jellipherson  died.  For  a  long  time  I  was 
horribly  tormented,  and  at  last,  when  he  him- 
self came  to  me  in  the  dead  of  night  at  the 
head  of  a  host  of  frightful  shapes,  all  of  them 
armed  with  clubs  just  like  his,  I  could  not 
stand  it  any  longer.     I  think  I  lost  my  mind — " 

"One  moment.  Who  is  Mr.  Jellipherson? 
Begin  at  the  beginning  and  tell  me  all  about  it." 

"Mr.  Jellipherson  was  my  husband's  friend 
— a  spiritualist.  He  had  an  uncanny  look 
and  a  harsh,  rasping  voice  that  made  me 
shiver  with  fear  whenever  I  heard  it.  I  could 
not  bear  him,  and  used  to  hide  from  him  when 
he  came  here,  as  he  often  did.  He  brought 
mediums,  who  got  messages  from  the  spirit 
world,  and  that  frightened  me.  I  could  not 
endure  to  think  of  being  surrounded  by  an 
army  of  invisible  shapes  who  were  watching 
me,  influencing  me,  knowing  all  my  most  secret 
and  sacred  thoughts.  I  cannot  tell  you  how 
the  fancy  of  such  things  preyed  on  my  mind. 
It  was  maddening  even  to  hear  them  talked 
about.  But  I  loved  my  husband,  and,  know- 
ing that  he  believed,  and  most  earnestly  wished 
to  continue  doing  so,  I  would  not  pain  him 
by  confiding  my  trouble  to  him.  It  might 
estrange  us;  and,  besides,  something — the 
spirits,  I  thought — prevented  me  from  speaking 


304   EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

of  them  to  anybody.  So  I  hid  my  fright  and 
pretended  that  I  had  no  objections  to  the 
meetings;  that  I  found  them  merely  amusing. 
"But  Mr.  Jellipherson  saw  my  antipathy 
and  resented  it,  not  openly,  but  in  various 
covert  ways.  Once  he  had  a  toy  club  made 
of  some  rare  wood,  inlaid  with  jewels,  and 
gave  it  to  Mr.  Harish  for  a  watch  charm,  telling 
him  it  should  typify  his  spiritual  attitude.  It 
was  no  use,  he  said,  looking  at  me,  to  try  to 
talk  sense  to  unbelievers.  People  were  so  stupid 
that  the  only  efficient  argument  was  a  good 
club.  With  that,  he  said,  one  could  silence 
opposition  by  knocking  brains  out,  even  if 
one  could  not  convince  by  knocking  brains  in. 
Though  this  was  said  jestingly,  it  seemed  very 
wicked  to  me.  I  knew  he  half  meant  it.  My 
own  creed  was  love.  I  said  nothing,  but  it 
made  me  wretched,  for  I  saw  that  my  husband 
agreed  with  his  friend  in  his  aggressiveness 
rather  than  with  me.  It  was  as  if  a  something 
of  evil  growth  had  been  planted  between  us 
by  Mr.  Jellipherson,  and  I  dreaded  him  more 
than  ever.  Then  one  evening,  during  a  dis- 
cussion, Mr.  Jellipherson,  who  was  nearly 
seventy,  solemnly  promised  that  if  he  should 
die  before  my  husband,  which  he  was  likely 
to  do,  he  would  prove  indubitably  to  him  and 
the  world  that  a  dead  man's  spirit  can  return 
to  earth.  In  what  manner  he  should  do  it 
he  could  not  tell,  but  it  should  be  in  a  way 
that  must  destroy  all  doubt  forever.  And  that 
promise  was  the  real  beginning  of  my  trouble. 
I  saw  that  he  really  believed,  and  somehow  it 


THE  SPIRIT  CLUB  305 

made  me  believe,  too.  From  that  day  I  began 
to  fancy  shapes  in  the  air,  hear  ghostly  whispers, 
and  feel  the  presence  of  evil  spirits  crowding 
me  in  my  room,  not  only  at  night,  but  sometimes 
in  the  daytime  as  well.  My  health  suflfered, 
and  soon  we  went  abroad  for  change  of  climate. 
Scarcely  had  we  arrived  in  Paris  when  we 
received  a  letter  from  home  informing  us  of 
Mr.  Jellipherson's  death,  and,  more  than  that, 
that  his  last  words  had  been  a  message  to 
Mr.  Harish  telling  him  he  would  surely  keep 
his  promise.  Then,  to  cap  the  climax  of 
horrors,  the  toy  club  disappeared  from  my 
husband's  watch  chain! 

"What  I  began  to  suffer  then  no  words 
can  describe.  It  was  the  spirit  of  the  dead 
man  that  had  removed  the  club,  that  was 
certain;  we  agreed  on  that,  and  all  that  had 
gone  before  was  as  nothing.  But  I  still  man- 
aged to  conceal  my  fright  from  Mr.  Harish. 
For  two  weeks  we  remained  in  the  hotel,  never 
ceasing  to  search  for  the  lost  club,  expecting 
all  the  time  we  knew  not  what,  when  one  day 
my  husband  in  great  excitement  burst  in  upon 
me  with  an  open  letter  in  one  hand  and  the 
little  club  in  the  other.  The  letter  was  dated 
and  postmarked  'New  York,'  It  was  this — 
every  queer  word  of  it  is  burned  into  my  brain: 

"*My  Dear  Harish:  It  was  me  that  got 
your  club  with  my  spirit  hand,  and  it's  me  send- 
ing it  back  to  you  to  prove  what  I  promised. 
Now  do  you  believe  and  know?  Because  you 
got  to,  and  can't  help  it.  Go  to  the  medium 
that  sends  you  this,  for  you  ain't  strong  enough 


3o6    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

to  meet  me  in  the  spirit  world  yet,  but  he  is, 
and  I  will  tell  you  many  strange  and  glorious 
things  through  this  great  medium.  Don't 
mind  this  grammar.  There  ain't  none  here; 
we  have  greater  things  to  think  of.'  The  note 
was  signed, '  Yours  in  the  spirit  world,  Jellipher- 
son.'  Below  was  the  medium's  address,  with 
an  explanation  by  him  of  the  conditions  under 
which  the  message  was  received,  and  an  urgent 
invitation  to  Mr.  Harish  to  call  upon  him. 

"There  was  but  one  possible  meaning  to 
all  this  now.  Mr.  Jellipherson  had  kept  his 
word!  It  was  proved  beyond  all  doubt.  No- 
body but  we  three  had  ever  known  of  the 
promise,  of  the  gift  of  the  club,  or  of  its  strange 
loss.  And  it  was  returned  to  us  from  America 
only  two  weeks  after  having  disappeared  in 
Paris!  Perhaps  that  man  even  at  that  mo- 
ment was  watching  me,  close  at  hand  in  the 
air,  hovering,  malevolent,  on  the  point  of 
revealing  himself  to  me  in  some  unearthly 
shape!  How  I  controlled  myself  is  a  constant 
surprise  to  me,  but  I  did  so;  and,  seeing  that 
Mr.  Harish  was  in  a  fever  of  desire  to  consult 
the  medium,  I  proposed  that  we  return  to  New 
York  in  order  that  he  might  have  his  wish.  I 
felt  better  at  home,  I  told  him,  than  anywhere 
else;  and  I  knew  I  should  feel  safer.  So  we 
came  back.  Mr.  Harish  hastened  at  once 
to  the  medium,  and  was  more  than  satisfied. 
He  told  him  many  things  which  nobody  in 
the  world  or  out  of  it  knew,  except  Mr.  Jelli- 
pherson. Still,  I  made  no  sign  of  the  tor- 
ments  I    experienced.     I   managed   to   refrain 


THE  SPIRIT  CLUB  307 

from  shrieking  out  as  my  husband  gave  me 
these  positive  proofs,  but  from  then  on  I  grew 
worse  and  worse.  The  slightest  noise  sent  me 
nearly  into  hysterics  I  saw  plainer  than  ever 
horrible  shapes  in  the  air.  They  came  to  me 
and  gibbered,  making  threatening  gestures, 
leering  at  me,  and  touching  me  with  their 
shadowy  fingers;  and  finally,  when  one  night 
Mr.  Jellipherson  himself  appeared,  as  I  had 
always  known  he  would  do,  at  the  head  of  a 
legion  of  others  like  him,  all  of  them  with  great 
clubs  after  the  pattern  of  the  toy  one,  and 
began  to  beat  me,  I  knew  I  must  give  up.  I 
could  suffer  no  longer  in  silence.  Something 
in  my  brain  snapped,  a  sharp  pain  pierced  my 
head,  and  at  the  top  of  my  voice  I  screamed 
and  hid  beneath  the  bedclothes.  But  they 
followed  me  even  there,  and  continued  to 
beat  me.  They  follow  me  always  now  at 
night,  so  that  in  the  morning  I  am  literally 
covered  with  black  and  blue  spots  from  their 
clubs.     See!     My  body  is  like  that  all  over." 

She  bared  her  arms  to  the  shoulder,  hold- 
ing them  up  pitifully  for  his  inspection.  They 
were  beautiful  arms,  rounded,  white,  perfect. 
He  was  not  obliged  to  remove  his  eyes  from 
her  own  in  order  to  see  that,  of  the  bruises 
mentioned,  there  was  no  trace  throughout  their 
lovely  length! 

"And  you  never  told  your  husband  a  word 
of  all  this?"  he  asked,  evenly. 

"No.  I  could  not.  The  subject  distracts 
me.  I  have  tried  to  speak,  but  the  spirits 
prevent  me.     All  I  have  been  able  to  do  is  to 


3o8    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

try  to  call  his  attention  to  the  bruises  by  show- 
ing him  my  arms;  but  he  does  not  even  see 
them.  I  don't  understand  it.  It  makes  me 
afraid  of  him.  It  is  as  if  he  were  against  me, 
on  their  side,  not  on  mine,  and  refused  to 
accept  any  evidence  of  their  hostility  to  me — 
would  resent  my  accusing  them  of  this  thing." 

He  arose  and  rearranged  the  pillows. 
"That  is  enough,  Mrs.  Harish,"  he  said.  "Lie 
comfortably  down  again  and  free  your  mind 
of  all  imeasiness.  You  shall  never  be  troubled 
in  this  way  any  more.  The  persecution  shall 
be  stopped  at  once.  I  am  going  to  bring  you 
a  visitor,  and,  when  he  comes  in  you  must  not 
cover  your  head,  but,  on  the  contrary,  you 
must  listen  to  every  word  that  passes  between 
him  and  me.     Will  you  do  this?" 

"But  you  are  not  going  to  leave  me  alone? 
Doctor,  I  can't " 

He  was  not  holding  her  eyes  now,  and  she 
started  up  in  fright. 

"No,"  he  reassured  her;  "you  shall  have 
all  the  company  you  want,  and  all  the  light. 
Feel  no  fear  whatever.  I  know  just  what  to 
do  in  this  matter,  and  from  this  moment  you 
are  safe." 

He  called  in  the  nurses,  and,  after  giving 
them  his  instructions,  sought  Mr.  Harish, 
who  was  in  the  hall.  At  sight  of  the  doctor 
he  ran  forv^ard  eagerly. 

"I  heard  her  voice,"  he  whispered,  "It 
is  wonderful  that  you  could  get  her  to  speak. 
What  did  she  say?  Can  you  do  anything  for 
her?" 


THE  SPIRIT  CLUB 


309 


Without  a  word  Dr.  Fumivall  led  the  way 
down  stairs  to  the  reception-room.  Here  he 
resumed  his  colored  spectacles,  motioning  his 
companion  to  sit  facing  hira. 

"Mr.  Harish,"  he  said,  "I  can  certainly 
restore  your  wife  to  sanity  and  health,  but 
only  on  condition  that  you  aid  me,  at  no  mat- 
ter what  cost  to  your  sentiments  or  hopes 
or  even  beliefs." 

"I — I  don't  understand,"  he  faltered  anx- 
iously. "Certainly,"  he  continued,  "I  would 
do  anything  in  the  world  for  my  wife,  and 
as  for  beliefs,  how  can  one  change  them? 
Proof    is    necessarily    convincing,    and " 

"It  is  proof  that  I  r^m  going  to  give  you," 
the  doctor  interrupted.  'I  am  merely  pro- 
viding against  any  shock  you  may  receive  in 
that  proof.  I  might  proceed  without  let- 
ting you  know  what  I  propose,  but  as  your 
aid  is  necessary,  I  will  not  ask  it  of  you  with- 
out warning  you  of  the  results  in  advance. 
Mrs.  Harish  is  suffering  from  a  not  extremely 
rare  kind  of  delusion  regarding  the  spirits  of 
the  dead,  and  in  order  to  restore  her  to  sanity 
and  health,  and  make  the  cure  permanent  I 
shall  be  obliged  to  convince  not  only  her,  but 
you,  of  a  certain  truth  which  will  startle  you. 
It  is  for  this  that  I  wish  to  prepare  you." 

"I  don't  think  anything  would  shock  me 
that  will  cure  my  wife,"  said  Mr.  Harish, 
with  a  touch,  of  resentment  in  his  tones.  "And 
my  mind  is  certainly  open  to  conviction  as 
much  as  any  man's.  Proof  is  all  I  want,  of 
anything.     If  it  is  spiritualism  you  are  hitting 


3IO   EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

at,"  he  went  on,  rising  in  sudden  excitement, 
"if  you  can  bring  stronger  proofs  against  it 
than  I  have  for  it  I'll  drop  it  at  once,  I  promise 
you.  But  you  can't  do  it.  I  know!  I  know 
by  proofs  so  perfect  that  even  you,  if  you  only 
dreamed  of  them,  would  be  as  strong  in  the 
faith  as  I  am." 

Dr.  Fumivall  proceeded  imperturbably: 

'"In  every  walk  of  life,  in  every  art,  pro- 
fession, science,  trade,  religion,  or  society  there 
are  some  persons  v.ho  are  wise  in  their  way, 
and  some  foolish;  some  honest  and  sincere, 
others  dishonest  and  insincere.  In  most  cases 
it  naturally  happens  that,  by  outsiders,  the 
class  is  judged  by  the  lower  ranks,  by  the 
fools  or  impostors,  rather  than  by  the  true 
disciples,  for  it  is  they  with  whom  the  out- 
siders come  most  in  contact,  and  hear  most 
about.  And  it  is  the  foolish  or  the  evil,  not 
the  wise  and  good,  that  the  uncultivated  delight 
in  spreading,  because  of  their  superior  qualities 
of  excitement.  In  spiritualism  as  in  every- 
thing these  ranks  exist  of  course.  But  it  is 
not  in  spiritualism  that  I  am  interested  now, 
whether  it  be  true  or  false,  good  or  bad,  or 
indifferent.  What  I  am  intent  upon  is  to 
cure  Mrs.  Harish,  and  as  you  are  sure  to  be 
staggered  by  the  very  medicine  that  will  effect 
that  cure,  I  think  it  right  to  prepare  you  for  it, 
rather  than  to  lead  you  unconsciously  on 
to  it." 

Mr.  Harish  seized  his  hand. 

"Forgive  me,  doctor,"  he  said  contritely. 
"I  am  scarcely  myself.     I  don't  know  how  it 


THE  SPIRIT  CLUB  311 

is,  but  that  subject  always  irritates  me  out 
of  my  normal  state.  The  thing  seems  so 
plain  and  indisputable  to  me,  and  its  oppo- 
nents are  so  obtuse  and  uncon vincible!  I 
thought  you  were  an  enemy  at  first,  but  I  see 
you  are  not.  Come,  tell  me  what  to  do.  I'll 
follow  your  directions  to  the  letter.  Shock  out 
of  me  whatever  you  will,  only  save  her!" 

"That  is  more  like  it.  Now  we  can  start 
understandingly.  It  is  all  very  simple  and 
easily  arranged.  In  the  first  place  it  is  neces- 
sary for  me  to  convince  you  not  only  of  my 
ability  to  hypnotize  a  man,  but  also  that  in 
doing  so  I  use  no  influence  upon  him  except 
to  draw  from  him  the  truth  of  the  matters 
about  which  I  question  him.  I  put  no  thoughts, 
and  can  put  no  thoughts,  into  his  mind,  but 
can  and  do  compel  him  to  speak  the  true 
thought  which  is  already  in  his  mind.  Do 
you  follow  me?" 

"That  is  not  the  usual  notion  of  what 
hypnotism  is,"   said   Mr.   Harish  interestedly. 

"No,  it  is  not,"  returned  Dr.  Fumivall 
dryly.  "It  is  my  notion,  and  since  it  is  with 
my  notion  that  we  have  to  do  just  now,  that 
is  the  one  we  will  consider.  I  will  tell  you 
the  secret  of  it  in  two  words,  as  the  French 
say.  It  is  important  that  you  should  under- 
stand it.  It  is  simply  this:  A  man  of  good 
intelligence  who  will,  instead  of  pursuing  mere 
ends,  mere  results,  as  is  the  usual  way  of  men; 
who  will  bend  all  his  efforts  upon  abstract 
truth  regardless  of  private  gain;  who  is  unbiased 
by    expediency,    driven   neither    by   debt    nor 


3ia    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

credit,  nor  friends,  nor  foes,  nor  ignominy 
nor  fame,  nor  riches  nor  poverty,  must  set  up 
in  his  body  a  flow  of  forces  unknown  to  and 
undreamed  of  by  the  ordinary  human  being. 
This  is  at  once  believable  to  any  good  phy- 
sician, for  we  all  of  us  know  that  the  thoughts 
of  the  mind  influence  the  body  more  or  less, 
and  that  the  longer  or  the  stronger  a  certain 
thought  is  held  and  dwelt  up)on  the  more  pro- 
nounced are  its  effects  on  the  body  contain- 
ing it,  especially  in  the  more  mobile  parts,  as 
the  face  and  eyes.  Fear  shows  there  at  once, 
and  so  do  anger  and  joy  and  pain  and  weak- 
ness and  vigor,  and  so  forth;  and  any  thought 
persisted  in  for  a  sufficient  length  of  time  will 
result  in  a  settled  change  of  appearance  there. 
The  eyes,  when  normal,  are  the  most  sensitive, 
most  mobile,  most  expressive  register  of  the 
owner's  thought  that  he  possesses.  It  is  there 
probably  that  every  thought  of  our  minds 
finds  its  surest  and  quickest  expression.  Con- 
sequently, to  hold  continually  to  the  desire 
and  thought  of  pure,  unadulterated  truth, 
never  to  be  swayed  from  that  stand  by  any 
possible  consideration,  is  to  evolve  an  eye 
altogether  different  from  that  of  the  ordinary 
man,  who  is  continually  sacrificing  truth  to 
expediency.  In  fact,  as  I  have  learned  by 
research  and  experiment,  an  eye  so  formed 
becomes,  for  every  human  being  who  looks 
into  it,  a  sort  of  physical-mental  magnet, 
drawing  from  him,  even  though  he  tries  with 
all  his  pMDwers  to  resist,  such  truth  as  he  has 
in  him  on  the  subject  suggested  to  him  at  the 


THE  SPIRIT  CLUB  313 

moment.  He  couldn't  lie  to  save  his  life. 
That  is  the  kind  of  hypnotism  I  possess.  Does 
it  seem  plain  to  you?    And  is  it  reasonable?" 

Mr.  Harish,  for  the  first  time  since  the 
interview  began,  so  far  forgot  his  troubles,  in 
his  interest,  as  to  smile. 

"I  think  the  theory  is  first  rate,"  he  said, 
"but  can  you  declare  that,  in  the  midst  of 
all  your  professional  cares,  from  your  early 
struggles  onward,  up  to  the  famous  position 
you  have  made  for  yourself,  to  say  nothing 
of  the  necessity  of  expediency  in  your  practice 
today,  you  have  held  to  the  pursuit  of  abstract 
truth  as  strongly  as  all  that?" 

"Does  it  seem  so  impossible?" 

"To  me,  yes,  I  confess  it  does,"  Mr.  Harish 
returned  somewhat  dryly.  "I  am  certain  that 
in  my  own  case  six  months'  adherence  to 
abstract  truth,  as  opposed  to  expediency,  would 
ruin  me  outright.  And  I  must  believe  it  is 
the  same  with  all  of  us.  I  am  as  upright  as 
anybody,  and  I  feel  obliged  to  think  that 
other  people's  methods,  if  they  are  successful, 
do  not  differ  materially  from  my  own.  In 
fact,  I  know  they  do  not." 

"That  is,  you  would  rather  see  the  eyes 
and  experience  their  quality  than  to  consider 
a  mere  theory  about  them?" 

"Well,  yes."  Mr.  Harish  spoke  with  polite 
reluctance.  "I  do  not  question  your  theory," 
he  added  hastily.  "It  seems  logical  and  rea- 
sonable. But  to  practice  itl  If  it  can  be 
carried  out;  if  any  man  can  succeed  as  you 
have  done  amid  all  this  hurly-burly  and  wild 


314    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

scramble  for  dollars,  still  maintaining  a  con- 
stant desire  for  the  abstract  truth  of  every  one 
of  his  transactions,  refusing  even  to  think  of 
expediency  as  opposed  to  that  truth,  why, 
then  I — I  should  indeed  be  glad  to  receive 
some  proof  of  the  fact  that  could  not  be  dis- 
puted." 

"And  nothing  but  that  sort  of  proof  would 
satisfy  you?" 

"I  think  not." 

He  looked  curiously  into  the  thick  colored 
spectacles,  but  could  see  only  an  outline  of 
the  eyes  behind  them. 

"I  wear  these  glasses,"  said  Dr.  Fumivall, 
observing  the  scrutiny,  "whenever  I  do  not 
wish  to  pry  into  a  man's  mind  and  force  him 
to  say  what  he  would  rather  keep  to  himself. 
In  fact,  I  wear  them  always  on  ordinary  occa- 
sions, for  without  them  I  could  not  help  hyp- 
notizing everybody  who  should  look  into  my 
eyes,  even  despite  myself." 

As  he  spoke  he  removed  the  disfiguring 
disks,  wiped  them  carefully,  and  slipped  them 
into  his  pocket.  Mr.  Harish  started  ner- 
vously. But  he  immediately  controlled  him- 
self, sitting  with  a  half  smile  around  his 
mouth. 

"I  am  going  to  give  you  the  indisputable 
proof  you  require,"  said  Dr.  Fumivall,  gazing 
him  steadily  in  the  eye.  "Is  there  anything 
in  your  mind  that  you  would  tell  nobody, 
something  that  wild  horses  could  not  draw 
from  you?" 

"I  don't  know.     Maybe  there  is." 


THE  SPIRIT  CLUB  315 

"Well,  you  are  going  to  tell  it  to  me.  Not 
only  that,  but  you  will  write  it  down,  so  that 
you  may  be  absolutely  convinced  that  you 
have  told  it.  Will  that  satisfy  you  that  I 
do  not  put  anything  into  a  man's  mind,  but 
simply  draw  out  a  truth  already  in  it?  It  is 
necessary  for  you  to  comprehend  this  dis- 
tinction." 

He  passed  a  pencil  and  a  leaf  torn  from 
his  notebook  to  Mr.  Harish. 

The  gentleman  took  these  smilingly,  but  the 
steely  gleam  that  one  always  suspected  to  be 
lying  asleep  awaiting  occasion  in  his  gray  eyes 
leaped  to  alert  life,  the  chin  grew  granite  like 
and  squarer  than  ever,  the  body  stiffened,  the 
breath  came  hard.  He  was  nerving  himself 
for  the  trial. 

"Go  ahead,"  he  said,  grimly.  "I  don't 
know  the  game,  nor  what  you're  after,  but — 
go  ahead." 

"The  game  is  to  cure  your  wife.  And 
what  I  am  after  is  to  give  you  a  sample  of 
the  medicine  that  will  do  it.  For  you  are  a 
man  who  will  believe  in  nothing  without  ma- 
terial proofs,  and,  once  having  been  given 
what  you,  in  your  finite,  fallible  mind,  consider 
to  be  proofs,  you  are  convinced  beyond  all 
doubt — until  a  stronger  proof  to  the  contrary 
is  forced  upon  you.  It  would  be  of  little  use 
for  me  to  raise  Mrs.  Harish  to  a  condition  of 
health  and  sanity  without  teaching  you  a  cer- 
tain kind  of  caution  of  the  very  existence  of 
which  you  seem  unaware,  a  caution  respecting 
the  acceptance  of  material  proofs  as  conclusive 


31 6    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

in  all  cases;  for  without  this  caution  you  would 
immediately  begin  sending  her  back  again. 
To  a  man  of  your  self-sufficiency,  who  has 
amassed  $100,000,000  in  twenty  years,  the 
teaching  will  doubtless  turn  out  to  be  some- 
what drastic;  but,  if  so,  it  is  your  lookout, 
not  mine.  It  is  on  your  own  demand.  Now, 
what  is  that  thing  in  your  mind  that  wild 
horses  could  not  draw  from  you?  Answer 
and  write!" 

Mr.  Harish  had  summoned  all  his  energies 
to  resist.  His  face  flushed  and  paled,  his 
muscles  grew  tense,  he  set  his  jaw  like  a  bull- 
dog and  clinched  his  hands,  his  teeth  gritted 
like  grindingstones.  In  vain.  It  was  the  old, 
old  struggle — brute  force  against  science,  sel- 
fishness against  love,  one  against  the  com- 
bined strength  of  skilled  humanity.  The  con- 
clusion was  foregone.  His  eyes,  fixed  upon 
Dr.  Fumivall  as  if  nailed  by  some  invisible 
power,  gradually  took  on  a  more  settled  ap- 
pearance, passing  from  the  steely  to  a  nervous- 
laughing  expression,  to  soberness,  to  earnest- 
ness, to  peacefulness,  and,  finally,  with  the 
doctor's  closing  words,  to  deep  introspection. 
Immediately  he  began  to  write,  awkwardly, 
without  seeing  the  paper,  pronouncing  each 
word  slowly  as  he  set  it  down,  conscious  only 
of  certain  truths  in  his  own  soul. 

"I  —  perjured  —  myself  —  in — court — yester- 
day— on — the — B  rand — case. '  * 

"Very  good,  to  start  with!     How  much  did 
you  save  out  of  it — or  make?" 

"  I — may — make — two — millions." 


m 


THE  SPIRIT  CLUB  317 

"Charming!  That  admission  would  be 
enough  to  convince  most  men;  but  what  you 
ask  is  real  proof,  indisputable  proof,  some- 
thing that  nobody  but  yourself  could  possi- 
bly suspect.  Of  that  perjury  everybody  sus- 
pects you.  What  is  the  first  lie  you  ever  told 
for  money?" 

"I— can't— think." 

"Too  long  ago,  eh?  When  you  were  very 
young?  You  began  almost  at  once,  prob- 
ably. What  was  the  first  mean  thing  you  did 
for  money  after  you  were  twenty-one?" 

"I — fraudulently — got — and  —  foreclosed  — 
a — mortgage — on — Widow — Gage's  —  home  — 
and  —  made  —  four — thousand — dollars — which 
— set — me — up — in — business." 

"What  is  the  latest  thing  of  the  kind  you 
have  done,  aside  from  the  perjury?" 

"  This  — morning  —  I  —  closed  —  a  —  deal — 
that — will — practically — ruin  —  my — ^late — part- 
ner's— children." 

"There  are,  besides,  many  other  trans- 
actions of  yours  that  you  would  not  acknow- 
ledge to  a  living  soul,  aren't  there?" 

"Yes." 

"Well,  tell  me  one  more,  and  that  will 
do." 

"I  —  swore  —  off  —  three  —  million  —  in  — 
taxes — in — the — city." 

"That's  enough,"  said  Dr.  Furnivall,  put- 
ting on  his  spectacles.  Mr.  Harish  sat  im- 
movable an  instant,  and  then  began  to  gaze 
around  as  if  just  waking  from  sleep.  His 
eye  caught  sight  of  the  doctor. 


3i8    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

"Ah!"  he  exclaimed,  with  a  jocularity 
somewhat  forced,  "I  remember.  I  didn't  doze. 
It  was  the  hypnotism,  wasn't  it?  Ha  ha  I 
How  did  it  come  out?" 

Without  a  word,  Dr.  Furnivall  pointed  to 
the  paper  in  his  hand. 

He  examined  its  appearance  curiously  at 
first.  Then  he  read  the  writing,  read  it  again, 
then  stared  at  it  in  unbelieving  horror.  A 
long  minute  he  stood  with  bowed  head,  his 
face  the  hue  of  chalk.  Slowly  he  tore  the 
leaf  into  minute  fragments,  thrust  them  into 
his  vest  pocket,  shivered,  pulled  himself  together 
sharply,  and,  with  the  steely  gleam  in  his 
eyes,  looked  at  the  doctcr. 

"What  are  you  going  to  do  about  it?"  he 
said.  His  voice  was  as  if  his  mouth  were  full 
of  sand. 

"You  are  forgetting  our  business.  Still, 
since  you  ask — is  that  Widow  Gage  yet  living?" 

"Yes." 

"In  poverty,  of  course?" 

"Yes." 

"No  doubt  some  action  in  that  matter 
and  at  once,  recommends  itself  to  you?" 

"Yes." 

"And  the  children  of  your  late  partner " 

"Yes." 

"Very  well.  We  will  say  no  more  about 
these  things  unless  it  should  become  neces- 
sary. They  are  for  you  to  settle  in  your  own 
way.  My  purpose  at  present  is  to  restore 
Mrs.  Harish.  How  long  before  you  can  have 
that   medium  here — the   man  you  have  been 


THE  SPIRIT  CLUB  31^ 

consulting  about  Mr.  Jellipherson?    Can  you 

telephone  to  him?" 

Mr.  Harish  measured  him  darkly.  His 
face  was  very  red  now,  he  gnawed  his  lip 
nervously,  his  mustache  bristled,  his  fingexs 
opened  and  shut,  and  he  breathed  heavily. 

"I  can  get  him  here  very  shortly,  if  you. 
wish  it,"  he  answered  at  last.  "But  is  it  neces- 
sary to  bring  him  into  the  matter?" 

"It  is.  He  must  come  at  once.  Mrs. 
Harish's  cure  depends  on  him.  I  am  going 
to  her  now,  and  when  he  arrives  show  him  up 
immediately,  for  it  is  there  that  I  wish  to 
see  him." 

"Ah,  that's  it,  is  it?  I  suppose  I  now  know 
what  you  want.  But  you  can't  do  it."  He 
shook  his  head,  with  a  touch  of  a  cynical  smile 
around  his  mouth.  "You  can't  do  it,"  he 
repeated.  "I  know."  But  as  the  doctor 
turned  and  without  a  word  looked  at  him  he 
added,  "Well,  if  you  insist."  And  he  went 
to  the  telephone. 

A  half  hour  later  a  tall,  slim  man  of  30^ 
with  curling  black  hair,  staring  eyes,  in  which 
a  wild  gleam  flitted  furtively,  and  dark  mus- 
tached  face,  came  into  the  sickroom  with  Mr. 
Harish.  Dr.  Furnivall  immediately  removed 
his  spectacles. 

"Business  looking  up?"  he  suggested  pleas- 
antly to  him. 

The  other  returned  his  gaze  with  a  stare, 
and  then  seemed  inclined  to  shift  his  regards 
in  the  direction  of  the  bed,  where  Mrs.  Harish 
lay  peering  fearfully  above  the  covers.    But 


320    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

he  only  moved  his  head  slightly.  His  eyes 
remained  fixed  on  the  doctor's,  staring  harder 
and  harder.  After  some  hesitation  he  an- 
swered ; 

"No,  we  don't  do  much.  Truth  is  too 
high  for  people.  They  won't  come  for  it. 
They  don't  want  it.  Money  is  what  they 
want,  and  fashionable  clo'es — the  women  any- 
way." 

He  gave  a  little,  hasty,  deprecating  laugh, 
and  moved  his  feet  about  awkwardly,  as  one 
unused  to  conventional  society.  But  his  eyes 
never  left  the  doctor's. 

"Yes,  but  aren't  there  ways  of  starting 
people  up,  attracting  their  attention,  making 
them  wish  to  come  to  you  and  pay  for  your 
services  ?" 

"I  dunno  what  you  mean."  He  said  this 
grievedly,  as  if  he  took  it  as  a  reflection  of 
some  kind  on  himself;  but  even  as  he  spoke 
Dr.  Fumivall  saw  the  familiar,  introspective 
expression  pass  into  his  eyes.  He  asked  at 
once  : 

"Where  did  you  get  that  little  ornamental 
club  which  you  sent  to  Mr.  Harish?" 

"My  sister  gut  it  for  me,"  he  replied  read- 
ily. 

"Where?" 

"She  took  it  off'n  Mr.  Harish's  chain  one 
night  in  Paris." 

"Who  is  your  sister?  How  could  she  get 
it?" 

"She  is  Mrs.  Harish's  maid,  and  is  with 
'em  all  the  time." 


THE  SPIRIT  CLUB  321 

There  was  the  sound  of  a  startled  move- 
ment in  the  bed. 

"Keep  perfectly  quiet,  Mrs.  Harish,"  cau- 
tioned the  doctor.  "All  you  have  to  do  is  to 
listen  and  understand.  Mr.  Harish,  go  to  your 
wife.  Sit  on  the  bed  and  take  her  hand. 
Now,"  he  continued  to  the  medium,  "tell  me 
about  that  transaction.  Why  did  you  do  it  ?  And 
how  did  you  do  it?     Begin  at  the  beginning!" 

"Wal,"  he  answered,  "of  course  I  try  to 
git  the  names  of  all  the  people  I  can  that's 
anyways  interested  in  spiritualism,  'specially 
the  rich  ones  and  them  that's  well  known, 
and  find  out  all  about  'em  that  I  can,  so's  I 
can  answer  their  questions  if  they  come  to 
me.  I  keep  a  list  of  'em,  and  all  about  'em, 
and  have  their  pictures  so's  I'll  reco'nize  'em 
and  can  tell  *em  things  they  thought  nobody 
knowed  of.  When  my  sister  said  Mr.  Harish 
had  mediums  come  here  I  told  her  she  must 
git  him  for  me,  so  she  listened  to  everything 
they  said,  and  read  their  letters,  and  found 
out  a  lot  of  things,  and  all  about  that  club 
and  Mr.  Jellipherson's  promise  to  come  back 
from  the  spirit  world,  and  I  told  her  to  git 
the  club  and  send  it  to  me  if  Mr.  Jellipherson 
died " 

Another  hasty  movement,  and  an  ominous 
exclamation,  rose  from  the  bed. 

"Keep  perfectly  quiet,  Mr.  Harish,"  said 
the  doctor.  "And  you,  Mrs.  Harish,  listen 
now  attentively.  Have  you,"  he  continued 
to  the  medium,  "ever  known  spirits  to  beat 
anybody  ?" 


323    EXPLOITS  OF  A  PHYSICIAN-DETECTIVE 

"Tha  ain't  no  such  thing,  but  it's  cur'us 
— a  lot  of  women  think  they  do,  women  that's 
nervous,  and  them  that's  jest  begun  to  b'lieve, 
but  don't  want  to,  and  fight  against  it.  They 
git  scared  and  see  things  that  ain't  there,  and 
think  the  spirits  is  mad  at  'em  and  hurting 
'em.  I've  had  'em  come  and  show  me  their 
arms  and  necks  so  I  could  see  the  bruises,  but 
tha  never  worn't  no  bruises  there.  They  imagined 
'em,  'cause  their  minds  was  set  that  way." 

"Do  you  believe  that  the  spirit  of  a  dead 
person  can  communicate  with  the  living?" 

"I  dunno.  I  never  had  none  communicate 
with  me;  but  great  men,  college  perfessors, 
say  they  can,  and  I  s'pose  they  know  better'n 
what  I  do." 

"In  fact,  then,  while  you  believe  there  may 
be  honest  mediums,  who  possibly  receive 
communications,  you  yourself  are  a  medium 
for  busmess  only,  and  all  these  messages  which 
for  years  you  have  pretended  to  receive  from 
spirits,  including  those  you  gave  Mr.  Harish 
purporting  to  be  from  Jellipherson,  were  made 
up  by  you  for  the  purpose  of  getting  money?" 

"Yes,  sir." 

Dr.  Fumivall  turned  to  the  bed,  to  a  singu- 
lar tableau.  Mrs.  Harish,  the  light  of  a  great 
joy  in  her  face,  her  eyes  streaming  with  happy 
tears,  was  reaching  out  her  arms  to  her  hus- 
band, while  he,  plainly  torn  between  two  power- 
ful emotions — great  love  for  his  wife  and 
bitter,  overwhelming  anger  toward  the  medium 
— stared  first  at  the  one,  then  at  the  other, 
and  finally  at  Dr.  Furnivall. 


!J.'^QuTy 


^     ^00  125  332    7 


